CCS: Dark Fate
by MengLong
Summary: I own nothing. Syaoran finally returns to Tomoeda with the power of the Dragons, but is his power enough to protect Sakura and seal away the rogue demons?
1. Chapter 1

It is here! CCS: Dark Fate, the main arc if my first every fanfic/story. You are going to have to read CCS: Dragon Master to get a good idea of the plot (Just check under my stories). Sorry that the first chapter is short, but I swear I will make them longer as I go. Special thanks too yuuwatase719 for betaing, with all my grammar issues, and Mrs. Radcliffe 13 for being the only one to review my story P. Well, lets begin!

Dark Fate Ch 1

_Five years... it's been a while..._

Syaoran stared out in the city. He was currently located in a old favorite hiding spot, the rooftops of Tomoeda Elementary.

_Tomoeda... I'm finally home..._

* * *

Earlier

Hong Kong

The sword was perfect in his hand. The blade was large and powerful, yet light as a feather. The perfect shiny surface reflected everything, brimming and overflowing with magic. A long dragon has been etched on from the hilt of the blade, going clockwise around the blade all the way to the top. The Sword of Dragons. It was perfect. Excellent balance, length... The complete battle outfit was green, with 12 dragons sewn on to it. Salamandra and Odin on the right sleeve, Astra on the right side of the back, facing Luna, while Leviathan and Slyph was on the left arm. Blade and Ramuh was on the right pant leg, and Gaia and Celsius was on the left. In the center of the shirt, forming a yin-yang symbol, was Origin and Envoy.

_Stop admiring it already. We have work to do._

Syaoran sighed. No more privacy. But Tian was right. It was time to head back to Sakura. This is what he had been preparing for. Five years... she would be waiting... wouldn't she?

"How are you, Xiao Lang?" Yelan hasn't seen her son conscious and functioning for weeks and now, he was carrying a huge burden on him. The power of the dragons. A power Clow Reed couldn't even claim.

"Fine, Ma-ma" Yelan recognized the hesitation and struggle in her son's voice. He was far from fine, but he was strong as the Dragon Master: an immortal. A warrior with near limitless power. The first immortal to pass the test and still have a heart. Could he be the one?

"Good, you shall now use a teleport spell to this location. This shall be your residence."

An image suddenly flashed inside of Syaoran's head, which went unnoticed by his speaking mother.

_Whoa. What was that?_

_Tell you later. Listen to your mother!_

Syaoran snapped back to attention. "Er, what about my old apartment?"

"Meilin lives there now."

"Wait, what is -"

"Meilin has taken your former powers. She is in Tomoeda as a layer of defense for Kinomoto Sakura."

"But -"

"Don't worry about Meilin. She has total control over her new powers."

Syaoran sighed. This was why he never tries to get in a conversation with his mother.

"Fanli will meet you at your new house. Prepare to teleport immediately."

"Wait, who? What?"

"Fanli and the Li clan dragon will fill you in with everything you need to know for your powers. Now go!"

The circle of dragon magic appear as Syaoran prepared to teleport. No use talking to his mother, he would probably never get any answers at this rate. White light enveloped Syaoran, and a second later, he landed in Tomoeda.

"So, you are the Dragon Master. Nice clothes."

Li turned to face an another Chinese teenager, slightly taller than Syaoran, with darker skin, dark eyes, and raven black hair. He was wearing dark blue robes, and carried a gold sword.

"Oh, right, I should introduce myself. I'm Fanli. The Demon Master."

Syaoran reacted instantly. He drew his sword and with a roar of battle cry, he aimed for the teenager's heart.

"Hey, hold it! I'm on your side!"

Syaoran ignored it. This boy was the controller of the demons that would try and kill the one girl he was trying to protect.

_I won't let Sakura die!_

* * *

A short period of time later

"Will you hold on a second and let me explain?!" the tall boy panted.

Fanli and Syaoran had been sparring for 10 minutes now, but the battle was going nowhere. None of Syaoran's attacks had even touched the Demon Master. Fanli had been dodging and deflecting the attacks with his golden blade, but Syaoran was puzzled. Why wasn't the other warrior striking back? Despite all of his training, Syaoran lost control of himself. His battle instincts kicked in and took over, but after ten minutes of failing to even scratch his opponent, he was on the edge. Ignoring Fanli's request, he drew upon his magic.

"Shui Long, zhao lai!" (Water dragon, come forth)

"Hei shui!" (Dark Water)

Two tidal waves appeared, and collided at each other. Both spells were negated, and Syaoran suddenly remembered that magic can't just disappear. He growled as he summoned the colossal power he had trained to achieve.

"Leviathan!"

"Oh crap." Fanli muttered to himself, and attempted to conjure a barrier, but he was no match against a summoned dragon. The tidal wave destroyed his barrier, and he was blasted by a huge amount of magic.

_OY! BRAT! DID YOU EVEN __**LISTEN**__ TO THE GUY?! HE'S ON __**YOUR**__ SIDE!__  
_  
Fanli stood back up, and asked "OK, you beat me. _Now_ will you listen to me?"

"Why should I listen to you? YOU are the master of the demons that are trying to kill Sakura!" Syaoran gritted his teeth, anger arising in him. Did this demon take him for a fool?

"I may be a demon master, but I lost my control over the demons."

Syaoran gazed at him skeptically.

"Oh, come on!" Fanli said exasperatedly. "If I still had control of them, don't you think I would've protected myself from Leviathan just now? You would've been booted all the way to Pluto if I still had them in my grasp!"

"...oh. How did you lose control of your demons?"

"It's a long story. Just say it was a breach of contract on my part, but luckily I still have a good chunk of power. Just can't summon any demons. Anyways, enough of that. Welcome back to Tomoeda! You haven't been out of that house for five years. Come on, I'll give you a tour, and then we can hit town."

Syaoran followed Fanli into the house. It was a large house, decorated with Chinese dragons and lions. The decorations were pretty simple. There was a large kitchen and dining room, both very simple. Many rooms were empty, and on the second floor, there was nothing but bedrooms, each one having a bathroom. Each room had different color for wall paper and bed sheets. All of the rooms very plain, but they had a cozy and comfortable atmosphere.

"OK that is the house. Time to check out Tomoeda. I haven't been here for that long, so I haven't seen most of the town yet. Come on!"

Syaoran and Fanli left the house and walked into Syaoran's old hometown.

_So this is your home. Nice. Never thought a small town like this will be a target of a great demonic force.__  
__  
_Syaoran sighed, and checked his watch. Past midnight. No one would be awake. Good. He just wanted to enjoy the city without many distractions.

"Lets liven things up a bit." Fanli said cheerfully. He leaped onto a roof of nearby house, and began jumping across rooftops. Syaoran followed suit.

_Memory lane, much?__  
__  
Yeah...__  
__  
_So many familiar places... the zoo... the park... the clock tower... and finally...

"Mind if we stop here for a sec?" Fanli responded with a nod, and landed on a roof with gates around it.

"Where is this?"

Tomoeda Elementary school... so many memories...

"Sakura..." Syaoran felt his insides dancing. "I'm back..."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Here it is, Ch 2, kinda short, but it will get longer later. Anyways, no more AP test for me, so I will upload faster. Hope you enjoy. Sorry that they are kinda rushed, but a newbie, first time semi-writer. Thanks to yuuwatase719 for betaing, and the two reviewers

Tomoyo, Eriol and Meilin watched Sakura as she flirted and chatted with the group of dopey-eyed boys who surrounded the emerald-eyed school beauty.

"Five years... a long time eh?" Eriol commented, "If Touya was here right now, he would have a field day..."

Meilin could just imagine Sakura's older brother beating down all of those idiots... her eyes glowed at the idea of making it a reality, but Sakura didn't want Touya involved in her personal life anymore. Growing up had taken its toll...

* * *

Sakura was completely aware of her three classmates watching her, but she was ignorant of the fact that two more people were watching her from outside the window.

Syaoran shook his head. She changed. Why? He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused his magic into his eyes. When his eyes opened again, they were no longer amber brown, but shining blue. Syaoran saw that Fanli was did the same thing, but his eyes were blood red. These magic eyes see all. Thoughts, auras, anything. Syaoran focused on Sakura's aura. Her aura was still bright pink, a happy and innocent girl, yet... her heart... something was definitely wrong with her heart.

_Is it my fault? Did I break her heart? ...duh... she must've been worried sick when I left five years ago..._

Syaoran focused on reading her mind. Same normal thoughts... but there was an echo in her head... clear and distinct... cold and sharp...

_"Goodbye Syaoran... I... want to move on... Never again..."__  
__  
_Syaoran's heart sank.

_So, she did moved on.__  
__  
_"So, we going to register to be students?" Fanli inquired. They had been sitting on a tree near the window of Sakura's class, which was on the second floor of the building.

"No... she doesn't want me back in her life. It'll be too awkward. Come on, lets get out of here before we draw any attention."

"Gotcha."

They both leaped off the tree, and were about to leave when someone called Syaoran's name.

"Li-kun?"

Syaoran froze when he recognized the voice. He turned slowly, "Er... Kinomoto-sensei..." he muttered, bowing.

"It is Li-kun! How are you?"

"Fine." Syaoran cursed himself for not being careful and getting caught.

"Have you seen Sakura yet? Does she know that you are back?"

"Er..."

Fujitaka raised an eyebrow, then looked at the window of Sakura's class. "You saw her, but she didn't see you?"

"Hai."

"You saw... how she changed?"

"Hai..."

"I'm sorry. She decided to move on four years ago... She was heartbroken when you 'died'."

Syaoran had no voice, no words to say. He just stared at the ground, unable to look at Fuijitaka.

"Well, I hope you're here to make things better."

"I am."

"Then good luck. I hope you succeed."

"Dad!"

Fujitaka turned to wave at Sakura, who saw him talking to two unknown, mysteriously-disappeared boys.

_Good luck Syaoran._ Fujitaka smiled, gave Sakura one last wave, and entered the school building.

* * *

The two Chinese teenagers managed to slip out of Tomoeda High without notice or anymore incidents.

"So, where to?'

"Dunno."

"If we are not going to school... then what? No demons yet. Wanna spar?"

"Sure, I guess... Hm, wait a sec."

Syaoran frowned, Yue and Keroberos seemed very weak right now. Their presence seemed to be... fading?

_Is Sakura getting weaker? Or is this a side effect of the heartbreak?_

_Tian?__  
__  
Yes, oh mighty master? _Tian replied with a sarcastic and condescending tone.

_How do I speak to Astra and Luna?__  
__  
Just summon them in your mind. Don't overexert yourself. There isn't that much room in here...__  
__  
Oh shut up. _Syaoran began focusing on Yuna and Astra.

_You summoned us? _The beautiful melodic voice of a woman echoed in his head.

_Jeez, Tian is right. It is crowded in here. _Astra's grumpy voice rumbled.

_OK, OK enough of that. What do you two know about Keroberos and Yue? _Syaoran's head was starting to hurt with so many presences.  
_  
Everything.__  
__  
Can you two summon them here? If it is no trouble.__  
__  
No problem! _Luna giggled in a childish voice. _I'd love to see good old Yue again!__  
__  
Great, I have to see that stuffed animal again... Let's get it over with. _Astra sounded irritated about this.

* * *

Kero was taking a nap in drawer when he felt a presence. Someone was calling. It was strong enough to wake him from his nap. Strange, the summoner was not Sakura. Who would summon him? Not only that, who else could summon him? Only Clow Reed aka Eriol or Sakura can give him any orders. Yet this new presence is one that Kero knows that he can't defy. He pushed opened his drawer, struggled to open the bedroom window, and flew towards Penguin Park.

"Yukito?"

Touya and Yukito were walking to the Kinimoto residence when Yukito abruptly stopped walking. He stared at the direction of Penguin Park.

"Yukito? You OK?"

"Someone is calling Yue."

Touya swore, loudly, ignoring two old ladies who began to glare at him, walking away while muttering something about 'juvenile delinquents'. "Is it my sister? Did something happen to her?"

"No... someone else..."

"The English kid?"

"No..."

White light and wings surrounded Yukito, revealing a tall, stoic, white-haired being who flew off towards the source of the calling.

Touya swore again, and chased after his best friend. _What the hell is going on?_

* * *

"Keroberos?"

Yue saw the Kero was waiting in an empty clearing in the park in his lion form. It had been five years since either of them changed to their true forms. Their magic seemed to be fading over the years, for some unknown reason, nor was there any trouble, so they kept to their disguised forms.

"You were summoned too, Yue?"

"Yes, but by who?"

"YUE!" Touya finally caught up, out of breath. "What is going on? Who called you here?"

"I did."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hey it is me again... yep these chapters are a bit short, but I promise that they will start to reach the 2K words per chapter soon. Sorry that I am a bit slow on updating, but I have terrible grammar and writing skills, so... Yea anyways, thanks for the reviews for Dragon Master and thank you yuuwatase719 for beta-ing. I have a looooong way to go before being a good writer. Well here it is. Chapter 3

**CCS: Dark Fate Chapter 3**

"YOU!" Touya felt a surge of energy and anger as he pointed at Syaoran, "You-! You... you! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, YOU LITTLE CHINESE _BRAT!_"

"Boy, great friends you got. He sounds disappointed that you aren't dead." Fanli said lazily, leaping down from a nearby tree. "Not that you can possibly die now..."

"Who is this Chinese brat? Another relative of yours?"

"Nope, the name's Fanli. You must be Sakura's older brother that all the boys are worried about."

"Enough." Yue finally brought an end to the pointless squabble. "Why have you summoned us?"

"Oh, right, back to business." Syaoran was itching to get in a fight with Touya, but business comes first. "Astra, Yuna, come forth!"

The two dragons appeared at Syaoran's side. Astra glared at Keroberos. "Well if it isn't the stuffed animal. As fat as ever."

"Astra!"

"Don't forget about me!"

"Luna?" Yue and Keroberos were terrified by the voice. (A/N Think Nakuru times, oh say, a hundred or so times. They have every right to be terrified. Plus Ruby Moon there isn't 10x their size and million times more powerful.)

"Why are you two here?" Keroberos demanded. "You guys are supposed to be in the Realm of Dragons unless by a Dragon Master! There hasn't been one for centuries!"

"We were," Astra replied coolly, "But our master summoned us to bring you two here."

"Master... WHAT? THE CHINESE BRAT IS THE DRAGON MASTER??" Kero was flabbergasted. "That is impossible. He is too weak and stupid. He couldn't even pass the Final Judgment! How could he possibly be strong enough to become the Dragon Master?"

"He went through the Trials and passed the test."

"Are you sure we are talking about the same guy here? Li Syaoran is a thick skulled moron!"

"Shut up Kero, anyways, I called you here for a reason. Sakura will be in danger in the future. She doesn't want me around, so you guys will need to take it up a notch and protect her." Syaoran stated. There was sorrow in his voice, but he carefully concealed it. Five years of training taught him to hide his emotions well. "And since you guys seem to be running low on power, for reasons I am trying to discover, I am going to give you all a little power boost, and since Touya is here... eh might as well. Envoy, come on out."

A dark presence materialized from Syaoran's shadow. "Envoy, Astra, Luna... you know what to do." The three dragons nodded, understanding.

(Well, just assumed Envoy nodded. He has no body after all) Three chains of energy, one white, one gold and one black, latched themselves to each of Sakura's guardians (Touya included). There was a surge of power for a few seconds, then chains vanished.

"That should do."

"Amazing." Kero never felt so powerful, he felt... invincible. Judging by how Yue was reacting, he was probably feeling the same way. Touya just looked confused.

"Why did you give me the powers of darkness?" Touya asked Syaoran. "Hell, why did you even give me powers for?"

"Protect Sakura with it. You should be used to dark magic, since seeing dead spirits rely on the powers of darkness. Now put that power to good use and protect Sakura. Oh yeah... you might need a weapon. Blade! Come forth and create a weapon of darkness with Envoy! Make sure it suits him."

A giant black sword appeared and floated in front of Touya. It had a long triangular blade, with a long hilt. It was a two-hander, with a sharp gleaming edge, similar to a guillotine. It was dull on the other edge, but it is used to block rather than attack on that half. It reeked of dark magic, so Touya hesitated at first. After a few seconds, he grabbed the blade, and felt its power. It was perfect for him, not too heavy or too light. He nodded with satisfaction. Though he never formally learned to fight without a weapon, the sword seemed to have a mind of its own, guiding Touya.

"OK now that everything is settled, go on with your lives and protect Sakura. And don't tell her about me." Syaoran commanded.

Yue, Kero, and Touya were offended that Syaoran was bossing them around, but refused to voice their complaints. They simply turned around and walked away.

* * *

"Yue?"

"Yes?"

"Since..." Keroberus hesitated. "Since our master... is the one that our powers are reliant on... does that mean... that brat...?"

"Possibly."

"WHAT? I don't want him as my master. I refuse!"

"It is not our business, Keroberus. Right now, all we can afford to do is to follow his orders: protect the Card Mistress."

* * *

"Good job." Fanli commented. "Now let's go."

Fanli started to head back home, Syaoran was about to follow when his cell phone started ringing. It was his mother.

_Don't pick it up!_

_Tian?_

_DON'T!_

_It's my mother! I have to!_

_I warned you!_

"Hello?"

"LI XIAO LANG, WHY AREN'T YOU ENROLLED IN THE HIGH SCHOOL?"

"Mother!" Syaoran gulped. "Uh, well, Sakura doesn't want me in her -"

"NO EXCUSES! YOU ARE A LI! YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO SLACK OFF! IT WILL LOOK TERRIBLE TO THE CLAN IF THE HEIR AND DRAGON MASTER," Yelan put a lot of emphasis on the 'Dragon Master' part, "DIDN'T EVEN GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL!"

"But mother-"

"DO YOU DARE TALK BACK AT ME??"

* * *

Fanli took a few steps when he stopped dead in his tracks. Being the Demon Master, he can sense dark powers and emotions, and currently, and extremely large amount of darkness was emitting behind him. He turned around, reverting to his Demon Eyes, just to be blinded by the amount of rage and fury that was emitting from Syaoran's phone. Fanli's head started to hurt from this large amount of darkness, and unfortunately for him, the entire conversation began play in his head.

"LI XIAO LANG, YOU CAN NOT, SHALL NOT, AND WILL NOT DROP OUT OF SCHOOL. YOU WILL GO AND GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL OR I WILL KILL YOU, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, YOUNG MAN!?"

"Ye-yes mother."

"IF I HEAR THAT YOU MISSED ONE DAY OF SCHOOL, JUST ONE, I'LL..."

"I won't, Mother..." Syaoran said hastily, gulping at the idea of what his mother could do.

"IF YOU EVEN.." The line went dead. Syaoran felt a burst of energy from Fanli, directed towards his phone.

"Sorry, but I had to cut her off with magic" Fanli said. "Never seen that much rage before."

"You never met my mother."

"Asian parents and school. Whatcha gonna do?"

Syaoran sighed.

_This is going to get a lot more complicated then I thought..._


	4. Chapter 4

Back with a few uber short chapters. I actually have worked up to chapter 13, but since I am in no rush to upload and edit P. Patience is a virtue. Still no reviews, but hopefully some will come along once I get the story really going. Thanks to yuuwatase719 for beta-ing, since my punctuation and use of contraction is terrible according to my beta...

**Dark Fate ch 4**

"I'll be going now! Bye Dad! Don't forget I'll be late tonight!"

Sakura sprinted out of the house before Fujitaka had a chance to say goodbye. Fujitaka's mind began to drift about the conversation he had with Touya and Yukito last night...

* * *

"That bastard! He says he loves her, yet he won't even go see her!"

"Touya calm down, I am sure he has his reasons." Yukito tried to calm down his best friend, but failed.

"Argh!"

"What's wrong Touya?" Fujitaka just walked into the room to see what the commotion is about.

"That Chinese BRAT that is supposed to be dead is back, and he doesn't even have the heart to admit that he's mistaken!"

Fujitaka frowned. "That doesn't sound like Li Syaoran... if my assumptions are correct, he cared for Sakura... quite a bit, too."

"Then why doesn't he go back to her? I'm _sick_ of those bastards getting _near_ Sakura."

"You know Sakura, I am sure he doesn't want to hurt or confuse her."

"How would you know?"

"I ran into him the other day."

"WHAT? And you didn't tell me?"

"He wanted his privacy. Plus, I would expect that you would try to go out and hunt him down. I like the boy too much for him to get killed by you."

"Still!" Touya continued his rant and screaming for a good half hour, until he finally calmed down and stomped towards his room.

Fujitaka sighed. Touya's brother complex can never be cured.

* * *

Syaoran was nervous. And that was an understatement. All his training can't stop his nerves. Sakura doesn't want him back in her life, yet...

"You need to stop worrying man." Fanli was already dressed in the school uniform, looking at it with disgust. "Ugh, I can never stand uniforms."

"How can it be fine? Everyone here thought I was dead for the last five years."

"Really? Hm, I should bring a camera. The reaction will be a hit on YouTube. 'Dawn of the Dead: High School Drama'."

"Ha ha." The sarcasm was deafening.

"I'm serious! I think that will be a great hit!"

_So do I! Mind if all the dragons can stay in this tiny mind of yours so we can all see the shock on these kids' faces?__  
__  
Not you guys too. _Syaoran inwardly groaned. Out numbered 14 to one. Greeeat.

"Come on we're gonna be late. We need to register and everything. Remember, if they ask any questions that you don't want to answer, use the mind trick I taught ya."

"I hate the idea of mind control."

"It isn't mind control. Mind control requires two synchronized minds and hearts to work. This is just a helpful suggestion in your favor."

"Right..."

* * *

**Tomoeda High class 11-2**

"You hear? We are supposed to get two new guys today!"

"I heard they are from Hong Kong."

"I saw them at the office earlier! They look so cool!"

The typical gossiping of the girls of class 11-2 were all focused on the two new students. Summer break just ended, leaving half of the school year left (A/N school starts in January and ends in December in Japan... I think). It was pretty late for new students. The guys of the class weren't really interested when they found out it there were no new girls, so they just kept their focus on the #1 girl of the school: Kinomoto Sakura.

"Class is starting!" The teacher entered the classroom, and everyone scattered back to their seats. "We have two new students today, but they seem to be late right now..."

* * *

"You sure you sensed a demon?"

"No, I'm lying for fun." Fanli said sarcastically. "OF COURSE, THERE'S A DEMON, I'M THE FRIGGIN' DEMON MASTER!"

Syaoran and Fanli were sprinting towards Penguin Park once again. Syaoran began to feel a dark presence similar to Fanli's.

_Looks like he was right _The little voice in his head snickered.

_Oh shut up already. _he grumbled

"This presence is very familiar too, so it must be one of the Demon Lords."

"Demon Lords?"

"Demon Lords are higher level demons, extremely powerful, and each contain an element similar to the dragons."

They finally came to a stop in front of the park. There, an orb of fire was waiting for them. Syaoran cautiously drew out his jian, but Fanli continued to approach it unarmed.

"Rayearth?"

The fireball metamorphisized into a flaming wolf. "Good to see you, Fanli."

"Rayearth... Are you here to fight?" Fanli asked threateningly, but the wolf shook his head.

"No. I came to help you. The Demon Lords aren't willing to take orders from the Hell Lord anymore. Some of us tried to break free from his chains, but I managed to escape. Rebind me to you by contract."

Fanli nodded. "I Fanli, bind Rayearth, Demon Lord of Fire, under contract." Fanli drew his jian, and slammed it to the ground. A massive surge of energy filled the air.

Eriol got distracted during class when he felt a tremor of powerful energy. It was different compared to anything he every felt before. Dark and dangerous.

_Where... did that come from?_

Fanli collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Syaoran sensed his aura becoming weaker and ran to help the boy.

"Fanli, you OK?"

"Yea, let me catch my breath."

"I thought you're an Immortal. Shouldn't you have a lot more power than that?"

"I did..."

"What do you mean?"

"I told you I lost the right to summon demons, and that also cut off my main power supply. Demon and powerful dark magic takes away a large chunk of magic and life force from your body permanently, in exchange for ultimate power. Without the magic from the Demon Realm to supply me, I have to use the magic from my own body. But don't worry, with Rayearth back, I now have a connection with the Demon Realm again. I will be able to recover in a bit. Stop worrying, I may be drained now, but I will be as good as new soon."

"If you say so, come on, we need to get to class. Tardy on the first day..." Syaoran groaned as he checked his cell phone. "Mother... is going to _kill_ me."

* * *

Homeroom was already half over when there was a knock on the door.

"Finally! Those must be the new students. How rude to be so late on the first day... OK class, let me introduce you to Fanli..." The teacher was about to ask what was Fanli's last name, but the thought suddenly vanished from her mind. The teacher frowned, trying to remember what she was going to ask.

_So, it isn't him... both new students are from Hong Kong, so they must be related. I suppose it's going to be a sister or cousin of his. He isn't a Li.__  
__  
_Sakura sighed. Behind her, Tomoyo and Meilin sighed as well. They were hoping for Syaoran too, even though he is supposed to be "dead", Syaoran was known to defy the impossible. The teacher was still confused after a few minutes, until finally...

"Oh yes, the second person... Class, this is Li Syaoran."

The classroom became dead silent.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Back with two super short chapters. Really short. Oh well. Thanks Yuuwatase719 for everything.

**Dark Fate ch 5**

"This is Li Syaoran."

Sakura's eyes snapped open. _Syaoran? There must be a mistake! It can't be him! It can't be! Okay, okay, don't panic, Sakura. Don't-!_

Sakura felt her stomach turn over as she gazed at those familiar, fierce eyes, that spiky, messy hair...there was no mistaking those amber brown eyes and hair. _It __**is**__ him!__  
__  
_The whole class now began to murmur to another. Li Syaoran was a legend in a middle school, and now... he was suddenly back? All the boys began to shift nervously in their chairs. Li Syaoran was the force that kept any guy from approaching Sakura before.

"Please take a seat..." The teacher was about to assign seats to the two boys, but that thought vanished from her mind. As the teacher struggled to remember what she was going to say, a suggestion in her head told her to let the boys sit where ever they want. Rather than trying to rationally think, she just said "Sit where ever there is an empty seat."

Fanli grinned. _No way anyone is ever going to try to control my fate again... no matter how big or how small._

The two boys unanimously decided to sit in the far back, in a desert wasteland of seats. The classroom had more seats than students, so there was three rows of empty seats in the back. Syaoran and Fanli sat in the last row, in the corner of the room. Syaoran liked the spot. He has a perfect view of the classroom, and no one would distract him. His eyes wandered on Sakura, and considered entering her mind again, but he squashed the thought. _I have to let her think things out_.

* * *

_Oh, God... oh, __**God**__... Syaoran? Syaoran! No, no! This is wrong! You can't come back! You can't just come back and confuse me again! No! No! NO! Syaoran... I've missed you so much... I want to hug you... greet you... but it hurts... it really, really hurts, Syaoran-kun... you can't just fix everything by pretending you were dead, then coming back. Syaoran... why did you have to confuse me like this!?__  
__  
_Sakura was lost in her thoughts throughout the entire class. Before she even realized it, it was already break. Sakura considered going to talk to Syaoran, but someone else beat her to the punch.

"LI XIAOLANG! WHERE WERE YOU? YOU HAVEN'T CONTACTED ME FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS!"

Sakura turned to see Meilin stomping towards Syaoran, Tomoyo and Eriol attempting to hold her back.

They might as well have been trying to hold back a stampede of elephants.

* * *

"LI XIAOLANG!"

Fanli shuddered. The rage from this girl was strong as well. It didn't help that she was heading their way, getting madder and madder with each step...

* * *

"Li Xiaolang! You better give me an answer!"

_Ooh, she's piiissed. Whatcha gonna do? All the power in the world ain't going to help you here! _The taunting idiot in his head was right... for once...

Syaoran gulped, and decided just to face her and tell her part of the truth.

"I was sent away against my will for some Clan business. I finally finished, and now I'm, uh, back to continue my life." he couldn't stop a squeak in his voice.

"And what exactly was this business?" Meilin demanded.

"That..." Syaoran paused, seeing everyone lean forward. "... is a secret."

_SLAP_. The sound echoed across the room, drawing the attention of many students. Syaoran saw the palm coming but didn't even bother to try to dodge. _Yup..._ I deserved that.

"How could you be in such a light mood about things? You were DEAD for five years, and you act as if nothing was wrong!"

Syaoran wanted to look down and feel ashamed, but that wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Look Meilin, I'm sorry, but this was important. At first, when the Clan took me five years ago, I was fighting to get out of it, but now, I realize how important it was."

Meilin couldn't stop herself from being angry, but knowing how important Clan duties were, she finally admitted, "All right. I... apologize for hitting you."

Syaoran shook his head. "It's OK, I deserved it."

Tomoyo and Eriol carefully approached the trio, now that the fight was over.

"So, my cute little descendant, you seem to be doing well."

"Syaoran! We missed you! How have you been? And who is your friend?"

"Fine I guess" Syaoran replied, and muttered quietly "If you consider being immortal fine..."

"I am Fanli. That is all you need to know, and will ever know." Fanli said with fake cheer and enthusiasm, and then turned to speak to Eriol directly. "So this is Clow Reed's reincarnation... Interesting"

Eriol hesitated, but shrugged it off. _This boy must be part of the Li clan, so of course he would know of me_. Still, there was a strange aura around Fanli that he can't put his finger on...

"Hey, where did Sakura go?"

* * *

Sakura ran out of the school building, crying.

_Oh, God, Syaoran... I can't take this, I really can't! One minute, you're gone, and the next you suddenly appear! What __**was**__ I to you? What __**am**__ I to you!? How can you just assume that once you come back everything will be okay!? It won't be, Syaoran! I can't let you keep doing this to me! Why couldn't you just tell me the truth!? Why couldn't you trust me? Can I really be that unimportant to you, Syaoran!? Please! Don't confuse me like this! I... Syaoran, god, I... I can't... I won't let you break me again!_

"Hey, Sakura you OK?" She heard that question from each member of the usual gang of guys as she ran. She finally found a secluded spot and unable to really stop anymore, she let the sobs pent up for 5 years begin to burst out.

The "gang" was all confused by Sakura's behavior, and immediately jumped the gun to go beat down a specific newcomer...


	6. Chapter 6

Syaoran left the classroom to go after Sakura, leaving Fanli with his old friends. The tense silence was awkward, so Fanli took the risk to break it.

"So..." Fanli brought up, "Er..." _Smooth_ he thought sarcastically. I _think I just made it worse_.

Rather than trying to mess things up even more, Fanli decided to just start reading the textbooks. Eriol, Meilin and Tomoyo went back to their seats, realizing that this guy was socially impaired.

* * *

"Hey, Li." A group of boys surrounded Syaoran in the hallway. "Stay away from Sakura."

Syaoran grinned at the ridiculously ironic comment. "Funny, I was going to say the same to you guys." If anyone paid attention, they might have noticed Syaoran's eyes turned blue for a second. "None of you deserve her. None of you are willing to take care of her or truly love her. All of you are going to hurt her in the future. 'You are all... vermin'" (AN:Halo 3 quote lol. Fit the scene)

The crowd around them grew silent. This group of boys were all either rich and popular for being jocks and good looking. Nobody ever insulted them, until now. The prides of the guys took a blow, and being the teenagers they are, they attempted to redeem themselves to the crowd, by doing the most stupid thing possible: Charge directly at Li Syaoran.

Fanli sensed discontent and anger in the hallways of the school. He smirked, "Looks like Syaoran will be the first to deal with those bastards."

The small wave of boys began to rush at Syaoran, but he didn't even have the tiniest bit of worry in him. When they finally got close enough, he swung low, tripping the first three boys, followed by a jump kick, sending one of the boys flying in to the rest of the group. Five seconds into the fight... and it was already over. The boys panicked, forgetting their pride as they escaped from the dangerous Chinese warrior.

_Pathetic. They thought they can protect Sakura? I didn't even have to try, and I already sent them packing._ Syaoran sighed. _Why are so many men spineless idiots who only care for their pride?__  
_  
_What? The fight is already over? I just blinked. Jeez, mortals these days... _Tian was irritated for having such a short show. _Oh, but I'm not worried... just wait until those demons start coming..._

Syaoran sighed, and went off to find Sakura.

* * *

"Sakura?" Syaoran approached the crying angel. "You..."

"Get away from me." Her voice was cold and filled with sorrow. "Just get away."

"Sakura, I just want to talk-"

"I never want to talk to you again."

"Sak-"

"It's Kinomoto-san to you." was blurred out before she ran off, tears threatening to break out once more.

* * *

When Syaoran returned to the classroom, it was empty except for his four friends. (AN If you don't know who they are, pay attention already) He approached the trio in the side of the room and told them, "Meet me after school. Front gate. I'll explain everything and _don't bring Sakura_." and returned to his seat with Fanli.

* * *

Tomoyo, Eriol and Meilin looked at one another. They all knew that eventually, they are going to have to pick on friend over the other. They just hope they can fix the relationship between their best friends before the decision will ever be made.

* * *

School finally ended, Syaoran and Fanli were waiting at the front gate of the school, waiting for Syaoran's three childhood friends. Sakura passed by earlier, but she chose to ignore her old childhood love. After a few minutes of waiting, the trio finally came out of the school building, and approached them.

"I shouldn't be here." Fanli stated nervously.

"Why?"

"This is a private matter between you and them."

"But-"

"Trust me, I shouldn't be there. Don't worry, I will go for a walk. Set a barrier around the house, and take it down when the meeting is over."

"If you say so."

* * *

Fanli watched as the two boys and two girls entered the house, and wondered to himself. _Why don't I have friends and family like that? Duh... because you killed them... _Fanli shook his head. He tries so hard to forget his past, yet it always comes to haunt him. He gazed at the sky, staring at the beautiful sunset. The sky was orange and pink, blended perfectly. A shimmer of darkness snapped him out of his sky-gazing. _A demon? No... a Demon Lord!_

He considered calling Syaoran for help, but thought otherwise. _I can handle this myself. I have to. I am the Demon Master._

Sakura didn't bother with magic for years, but it all came flowing back when she felt a strange presence. She frowned as she tried to identify the location. _What was that?_

Fanli ran through the desert aquarium. _Where is everybody? It must be Kraken..._ He looked around at all of the empty tanks. Where is it? His question was answered when a GIGANTIC blue shark appeared before him. It was brimming with a dark aura, its skin was dark azure, with patches of extremely dark blue. Kraken stared at Fanli with its dark blue eyes for a few seconds, but the silence was quickly broken when Kraken launched a constant stream of water pulses towards him. Fanli dodged, but Kraken predicted his movement. a stream of water slammed directly into Fanli's chest, sending him flying across the room. _Dang, stupid stupid stupid._ _Kraken is a smart one, defensive tactics won't help. _Fanli hated to admit it, but he was at a... (he shuddered) disadvantage. He only has one element that he can conjure without tapping into his own energy supply, and that is fire. Any attacks he is going to make will drain him, and not to mention he still has to bind Kraken to a contract. He had no choice though. It's live or die.

"Hei Dian!" Arcs of lightening began to emit from his blade. Kraken just floated there, tauntingly. _Let the games begin._ Fanli charged directly at Kraken, and the battle began.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Whew, I am back. Boy this chapter was bad the first time I wrote it, but now thanks to my beta and friend (the great yuuwatase719) and some editing, it is actually a good length. I know I promised for longer chapters, and the next one is about 1.5K words long. They will start to get better. I hope.

**Dark Fate ch 7**

Sakura, Keroberos, and Yue entered the aquarium, and were astonished by the damage. The room was partly flooding, there were burn marks and holes on the walls. It was evident that a battle occurred here.

"Float!" A pink bubble lifted the three, and began to float deeper into the aquarium.

"What happened here?" Sakura wondered out loud. Yue and Kero didn't answer, thanks to their power boost, they had a good idea what had happened here.

* * *

"Hei dian!" Arcs of lightening collided against Kraken, ensnaring the floating, blue shark. It let out a loud wail of pain as it attempted to break free, but it failed. Fanli took the opportunity.

"I Fanli, bind you Kraken, Dark Demon Lord of the Sea, under contract."

There was a flash of magic and light, and the sea demon vanished, returning to its true master.

"Round one is over... ready for round two?

Fanli spun around to face a dark skeleton with blood red eyes. It carried a black and purple blade and shield, both had a serpent engraved on it. _A demon knight. _(AN: The hierarchy of demons are lesser demons, greater demons, demon knights, demon lords, and Hell Lord. The top three can summon the bottom three to do their bidding, but they are a smaller amount of these higher levels.) _Great. And when there's smoke...__  
__  
_Dozens of lesser demons materialized around Fanli. They all growled and hungered for blood. His blood.  
_  
.. there's fire._

* * *

Sakura felt a surge of power, pulling her towards the center of the aquarium. _There!_ She guided Float through the rubble and destruction towards the source of the power. _Wow, this battle must have been crazy! Most of the stuff here is destroyed completely!_ The trio kept pushing through the mess until...

"Oh my god."

Dozens of monstrous creatures were boxing in a boy, who was collapsed on the ground. A small and pitiful barrier surrounded him, but it was enough to hold the monsters at bay... for now.

_Hey... that guy looks... familiar... isn't that...__**the new kid!?**_

"Jump!" Sakura pulled out another Sakura Card, and leaped to Fanli's side. "Are you OK?"

"Do I look OK?" Fanli replied. He looked up to see the owner of the voice. His face turned pale "Oh no, not _you_. Not here. If Syaoran finds out, he is going to KILL me."

"What do you mean?"

"Get out of here! If you get hurt, I'm a dead man!"

"Huh?"

"Jeez, why are girls so dense?" he muttered, then raised his voice again. "Fine, just watch your back!"

Yue and Kero already started to fight with the approaching demons. Yue launched dozens of crystals, blasting through the demons, while Kero sent flames at the nearest demons.

"Hey, Sakura, we need some help here!" Sakura swore as she drew out her staff. "Windy!"

* * *

"... So that is my story."

Everyone was still mesmerized by the story. They had been listening quietly for over an hour, absorbing the details of his past, from training to the final test. Eriol was finally the first to speak.

"Amazing. You are the Dragon Master... That was a power Clow Reed couldn't even use... You will have to let me examine some of your dragons some time."

"The torture you went through... for Sakura..." Tomoyo and Meilin were on the verge of tears.

"That is why I asked for her not to come, it will hurt her-" Syaoran abruptly stopped talking. A chill went down his spine as he sensed a dark aura. A familiar location flashed in his mind. _Danger!_ "Demons are here! At the aquarium! Sakura is in danger! SAKURA!"

A circle of magic was formed. Before anyone could protest, Syaoran barked a word of power, and the group vanished...

* * *

"WE CANT HOLD THEM OFF MUCH LONGER!"

Sakura had Shield form a barrier around them, while Yue and Kero fended off the demons, but the monsters from Hell were beginning to overpower them. Kero sent out a burst of flames, but a dark skeleton moved to intercept it, easily blocking the attack. It sneered at the group, as if asking if that was all they had. Yue fired an arrow at its skull, but it was blocked with ease. Sakura began to lose hope, when suddenly the room turned very bright.

"Sakura!" Eriol, Tomoyo, Meilin and Li appeared out of nowhere.

Eriol raised his sun staff, sending out a shock wave of sun energy, knocking all the demons back a few feet. Meilin followed suit with a fire spell. Demons screamed in pain as the flames scorched their dark skin. Tomoyo instinctively brought out her camera and started filming the fight. Eriol sent a few fire balls at the demon knight. It cursed and vanished when it sensed the power.

"Sakura, you all right?"

"Yea I am fine, but -"

Syaoran lifted his sword, his eyes filled with anger. It began to shine bright blue, and his sword emitted a power wave of light. "Stay the hell away from Sakura." His voice was cold and harsh, sending shivers down everyone's spines. "Leviathan! Celsius! Show no mercy!"

The currents of water shot out of his sword. The water surrounded the group, and tidal waves were launched in all directions. The demons roared as water collapsed on them, and were snared by whirlpools. Syaoran slammed his sword down, and the water froze immediately. Seconds later, dozens of ugly and horrific ice sculptures were scattered across the room. Eriol sent out another giant shock wave, shattering all of the sculptures.

Tomoyo rushed to Sakura's side. "Sakura! Are you OK? Are you hurt? I-"

"I am fine, Tomoyo." Sakura glared at Syaoran. _What is __**he**__ doing here?_

"I was so worried when Syaoran said you were in danger! He was so worried!" Tomoyo said in a chiding voice.

_Why is he worrying so much about me? I can take care of myself. __**I don't need him.**_

Fanli was finally able to stand up, and quickly began apologizing.

"Sorry guys, if I watched myself, you guys wouldn't have to be here to save my life. Anyways, let's head back to the house. The demon knight escaped, so he might decide to come back with reinforcements."

Syaoran teleported the group back to his house, and from there, everyone headed back to their own homes. Syaoran went inside the house, muttering something about needing to finish his homework or his mother will kill him.

Fanli was sitting on the roof, staring out in the night. Being immortal requires no sleep, no food... no love... He clenched his fist. _This is why you don't make friends. You are going to always put them in danger. Did you want your past to happen again? You want to be a killer again?_


	8. Chapter 8

AN: I promised for a longer chapter, and here it is. Of course, I leave it at a bad spot... but when I finish editing the next chapter, I will upload it. Thanks to silentcynara for the review, and yuuwatase719 being my beta. Seriously, I have no idea how she stands it. My grammar and punctuation sucks. For those wondering why I am bothering with writing this story, despite the lack of interest, I am going to prove to a friend that life isn't perfect, and neither is this story, but that won't stop me from crossing the finish line. Enough ranting.

**Dark Fate ch 8**

Touya couldn't sleep. He was too worried about Sakura. When she came home today, it was clear she had been crying. She went straight to her room and locked herself in.

_It better not be that brat..._ Touya paused on that thought. If Fujitaka was here, Touya could have consulted with him, but their father was away at an excavation of a mysterious ruins in the Gobi Desert. _Only if she wasn't involved with the world of magic... Magic?_ He completely forgot the magic the brat gave him. There was someone else he could consult, so he decided to try out his new powers. He summon the energy within him, and try to call a spirit with his mind. A few minutes passed, and a ghost drifted into the room. No matter how many times he had seen her, she looked more and more beautiful each time... the woman who had given him life: Nadeshiko Kinomoto.

"Hello, Mother"

"Touya, why did you call me?"

"I need someone to talk to..."

"About Sakura?"

"Yes."

"She is a strong girl, Touya." his mother admonished gently. "She just needs to work out her feelings... I just hope she does before the Final Day."

"Final Day?"

Nadeshiko looked out the window, gazing at the moon. "The Final Day..." She murmured. _Will Sakura realize her true feelings before she loses him forever?_

* * *

The next day of school in class 11-2 was... different. No more boys were swarming Sakura, after they heard how Syaoran took down ten guys on his own in less than five seconds. All the boys are terrified, and once again relabeled Sakura as "taken". Sakura, surprisingly, taken this change quite well. She liked the peace and quiet that she never had when every boy in the school was trying to get a date with her. What she was irritated of, though, was that every girl in the school is now fawning over Syaoran. Unknown to Sakura, Syaoran was feeling the exact same way.

_I hate these silly superficial shallow girls... They expect me to like them for what reason? A history? True love? There is nothing there...__  
__  
Ugh... hey brat, can you get rid of these girls already? They're giving me a __**migraine, **__I'm not even kidding.__  
__  
Just ignore them...__  
__  
Harder than it sounds. Unlike __you__, I have a brain, and it currently hurts.__  
__  
...__  
__  
Hey! Don't ignore your guardian! Show some respect! Hellooooo!__  
_  
Syaoran wanted this day to end. Unfortunately for him... class has yet to start... Unfortunately for him, the teacher just happened to pick today to allow the students to sit anywhere they want...

_Let the nightmare begin..._

* * *

School finally ended. Syaoran let out a breath of relief. Finally he can escape from those nosy...

"Er Syaoran?" Fanli tapped his friend's shoulder. "The front gate has been blocked off by your little fan club."

Syaoran swore as he glanced out of the window. A swarm of girls completely blocked off the gate, all waiting for poor little Syaoran. Syaoran ignored the chuckling in his head, and tried to think of a way out. Only one way in and out of the school... unless...

"Hey Fanli, feel like roof hopping again?"

* * *

Sakura was at cheerleading practice again. She uncomfortably shifted as she felt the overly-crowded boys gazing at her. They all may be afraid of being within a few feet of her, but that didn't mean they weren't allowed to just _look_ at her, right? She was the most popular girl at school for a reason. Though Sakura liked the peace and quiet, she loathed the fact everyone has marked her as "taken" by Li Syaoran. _Him_ of all people! The one that shattered her heart. The one she trusted... Still... deep down... she felt good that he still cared for her, but she simply couldn't trust him anymore. Not after what he did.

_Does this relationship even stand a chance?_

Practice ended, and Sakura headed to the front gate of the school, to see that Tomoyo, Meilin, and Eriol were waiting for her.

"Hey guys, were you guys waiting for me?"

They nodded. At first none of them said anything, looking warily at each other. Tomoyo finally spoke up. "Sakura, we need to have a talk."

"About Syaoran?"

They all nodded again.

"Not interested."

"Sakura, if you would please just listen to us..."

"NO!"

"Sakura please."

The conversation continued, getting nowhere as her three friends kept begging her to listen throughout the walk to her house.

"I said I didn't want to talk about it. Please, leave me alone."

Sakura entered her house, and slammed the door in their faces. A few seconds passed when the door opened again, and Touya popped his head out. He looked extremely grumpy... and pissed off.

"What was that about? Why is Sakura crying again?"

None of them could really quite look him in the eye. His brother-complex is quite dangerous.

"We wanted to talk to her."

"About the brat?"

"Yeah."

Touya sighed. This boy was seriously causing too much trouble for Sakura. "Come in, you can wait for her. She might take a while, so don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

A dark figure watched the poor girl cry her heart out. _Yes... let me taste your sorrow... Don't worry... I will take it all away soon..._

Ragnarok, the most powerful demon in existence, continued to stare at the girl. _This is just too perfect. She is the Card Mistress... Her sorrow is delightful... and she is an acquaintance of him._ _There is only one thing that can stop him from claiming her heart and cards, but that will be dealt with shortly._

"Volt, Tempest."

Two demons appeared behind him. One looked was a loooooooong serpent (AN think of the basilisk in Harry Potter) with venomous eyes. Its rattle was filled with electricity, and was shaking with excitement. The other one was a large hawk, the size of a small car, with large white wings and sharp blue eyes.

"You called Masssssster?"

"Your times have come. Rally your demons, and prepare to attack. You know the plan. Fail me... and you know the consequences."

Both demons vanished instantly.

_Fanli... are you ready for war? How about the Dragon Master? Is he ready to lose his precious flower? Let the fun begin..._

* * *

Fanli was on the roof of his house, staring at his blade. He observed the gold sword, it had a serpent etched on, from the hilt, twisting around the sword in a counter-clockwise direction until it reached the tip. _Has this power been a blessing or a curse?_ His thoughts was disturbed by a disruption in the atmosphere. The darkness in the air was palpable, the demons were back. This time at... _The Kinomoto residence!_

"Syaoran! Trouble at your girlfriend's!"

Syaoran came bursting out of his house, dressed in his battle outfit and brandishing his sword.

_How the hell did he change so fast?_

He leaped down to join the Dragon Master as Syaoran prepared a teleportation spell. A circle of light appeared, but quickly vanished. The spell has failed.

"What the-" Syaoran was pissed. _Sakura is in danger and my friggin' transportation spell decides to go looney on me! _he thought angrily as he dashed away.

He started sprinting out of the front gate of the house, but was stopped by an invisible wall. He swore as he blasted the barrier with a fire spell, but it bounced off uselessly.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I am sorry, but you aren't going to be leaving anytime soon." A women's voice was heard from the rooftop, smooth and deadly. Both boys turned to face the new challenger, swords and magic ready. She was a tall woman, with white wings emerging from her back. She had long blond hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, its you Tempest. Can't you leave me alone?"

"Fanli, that is rude to speak to a Demon Lord like that! aren't you going to introduce me to your friend of yours?" She replied flirtatiously.

"Tempest, Syaoran. Syaoran, the wind demon who loves to sexually harass people. Don't say I didn't warn you. She is a demon in more than one way."

"Hey!" Tempest pouted. "I will get you for that!"

A gush of wind blew as she flapped her large wings.

"Slyph, block the wind!"

The dragon of wind materialized, easily blocked the magical wind. Slyph faced her demonic counterpart. Slyph gave a loud roar as she glared at Tempest. _Only if looks can kill..._

"Ah, this might be fun. I am afraid you two won't be leaving anytime soon. So I should have plenty of time to enjoy myself." She flapped her wings, and began to fly.

"She is a demon? She doesn't look like one." Syaoran asked warily, "Or even sound like one. Sounds more like one of the airhead girls at school."

"Don't judge a book by its cover. The higher level demons have multiple forms. The Demon Lords are known to have an animal form and a human or magi form."

"So... what is her animal form."

Tempest covered herself with her angelic wings, and when they opened, a giant white hawk took her place.

"That."

* * *

_What is this strange presence?_

Eriol looked out the window, and his blood turned cold. A dark barrier has been set around the house, monster crawling and slithering from the depths of hell, into the realm of the humans.

"Looks like we have some company."

* * *

Volt slithered up to the Kinomoto's and smiled. _They are trying to set up a defense. Pathetic._ Dozens of demons materialized behind him, and a dark voice echoed in Volt's head. _Indulge yourself... take the Card Mistress... kill the rest._

Volt let out a bloodthirsty shriek. _There is going to be blood tonight._


	9. Chapter 9

A REAL AN: I'm back! I am going to try and update once a week, so thanks to my three reviewers

Shadow-Wolf-Storm: You no longer have to wait.

Taeniaea: Thanks

silentcynara: I am a rookie unknown writer. Not many are interested.

Three reviews! Better than I expected lol... I was guessing like... zero. Yes I know low self esteem. Deal with it. If my friends (hark! Menglong has a life? No I don't. Just wanted to clear that up) can, so can you. Anyways, off to the story! Also, any recommendations for chapter titles?

* * *

**Dark Fate ch 9  
**

"Kashin shourai!" Meilin let out a jet of flames from her ofuda. After the first spell, she quickly drew out another ofuda. "Raitei shourai!" Arcs of lightening pounded the stampede of demons. _How many of them are there?_

"Eriol! Sakura! How is that barrier coming?"

"It's ready!" Eriol and Sakura combined their two defensive spells.

"Shield!"

"Barrier!"

A powerful barrier surrounded the house, keeping the demons at bay. The demons howled for blood, angered that something stood between them and their apparently overflowing dinner.

Volt snickered. _They think a pitiful barrier like this... can keep ME away?_ He lifted his head, and shook his rattle. Bolts of lightening rained from the sky, decimating the barrier. Demons howled and laughed as the group of humans began to panic. The invasion continued.

"Hei huo!" "Huo long!"

Flames surrounded the white white demoness/hawk, Tempest, forming a binding chain, but such a simple trick wouldn't defeat her. Tempest prided herself for her agility and evasion abilities, and she had every right to. She easily broke out of the chains, and dived for the boys. Syaoran rolled to his left, while Fanli leaped to the right, back on to the house roof. _How did she get passed our barriers? Nothing should be able to get passed them! Ragnarok... _Fanli growled.

"Syaoran! Watch out! She is using powerful dark magic, stronger than any single dragon can use. Merge multiple dragons! And for God's sake, pay attention and keep your eye on her!"

Easier said than done. Tempest was fast, and camouflaged with the night. Her screech was deafening and distracting. Another plan was needed, summoning multiple dragons for a powerful attack would be useless if they can't get a clear shot. "Rayearth come forth!" A barrage of fireballs aimed themselves at Tempest, but she spun a few times, blowing and deflecting the fireballs back. _Ah ha! So there is a way to slow her down..._

"Syaoran! Screw the last plan! I will try and distract her! A good hit will lower the barrier! Get out and help your friends! Get ready!"

"Hai!"

Fanli lifted his sword once more, "Kraken come forth in your alternate form!" Kraken as a shark was powerful, but too slow to catch up with Tempest, but her human form on the other hand...

Kraken materialized in her human form. She was a young girl, with dark blue hair and eyes, with light blue skin. On her back, a light blue sword was sheathed. Kraken glanced at Tempest, and nodded at Fanli. She leaped up and took off after the white hawk. She sent out pulses of water but Tempest easily deflected them with a spin. _Gotc__ha._ Tempest's spin slowed her down severely, and was an excellent distraction. "Rayearth. Unleash your flames of hell!"

Rayearth leaped in from of the flying hawk, and Tempest was blasted at point blank range by the flaming wolf, knocking her out of the air. The moment she slammed onto the ground, the barrier collapsed. _Now!_ Syaoran teleported to Sakura's aid. As soon as he vanished, the barrier reassembled itself.

"Nice trick." Tempest had reverted back to her human-self. "But that just leaves you and me."

"You are my responsibility. I am the Demon Master."

"Not anymore. Ragnarok stripped you of your title." Tempest said smugly, drawing out a long, black bow. Fanli fought to control his shaking anger.

"That won't stop me from binding you under contract. I won't lose."

"Try. I dare you."

Rayearth and Kraken landed by Fanli's side on the roof. Kraken glared at Tempest with her ocean blue eyes, while Rayearth howled at the moon, ready for combat. "You're on."

"Son of a-" Touya hacked down another demon with his sword. These demons were weak, but there were just so many of them! Eriol and Sakura had their hands full dealing with that giant snake, leaving Meilin, Touya, and the guardians to handle the onslaught. Tomoyo, despite the danger, was delighted to get such wonderful footage.

"Fuuka shourai!" A small gust of wind blew through the demons, not even fazing them. Meilin was running out of magic. Spinel and Kero sent bursts of flames at the massive wave, while Yue and Ruby sent a barrage of crystals their way. The battle continued, but the demons gained more and more ground every passing second.

"Jump! Dash!" Sakura dodged a barrage of lightening bolts aimed at her. Eriol sent a beam of light at Volt, which just deflected against his skin.

"I can't even scratch him!"

Sakura started to feel weak. _No! My magic...!_

The snake smiled as it approached her, glee in its eyes. "You... arrreeee... miiiine."

Sakura wanted to scream, but nothing came out. She managed out one last thought before she shut eyes. _Syaoran..._

Volt halted in his tracks. A barrier formed around the Card Mistress, and a blast of energy knocked him back a few feet. "A barrrrrrier? Whooo could have ssssssuch powwwwer?" Volt turned to seek the attacker, and saw a boy appear behind him.

"Me." Syaoran said coldly, pointing his blade at the demon.

"Yoouu... Tempesssst..."

"Was supposed to keep us occupied? Well, she now has her hands full with your previous master."

"Caaaan't... deffeeeaat... meee.."

"We'll see. For trying to hurt Sakura." Syaoran's eyes turned blue. "_You...are...going...to...__**suffer**_."

"Dieeeee."

The snake dived for Syaoran, but he easily blocked the blow with his sword. Syaoran leaped forward, slashing and hacking at the overgrown reptile. The magical skin of Volt was very powerful, but it was no match for Syaoran's rage. A few blows cut and impale the snake. Volt roared from the pain, but quickly recovered. He launched dozens of lightening blasts, which Syaoran quickly avoided, and retaliated with his own lightening spell. The battle ensued.

Fanli leaped off the roof to dodge a barrage of arrows at his position. He was lucky, some barely missed him.

"You can't defeat me!" Tempest pulled out a bow, firing off dozens of arrows per second at the rate of a machine gun. Each arrow was guided by the wind, making them difficult to dodge. It probably also didn't help every arrow exploded at impact.

"Rayearth, deal with the arrows! Kraken, sic her!"

Both demons launched their counter attacks, but failed miserably. _How is she so strong? Has Ragnarok became that powerful? Or I am just that weak?_ Tempest saw the hesitation on his face, and laughed. "Dark magic requires a dark soul. Yours used to be dark enough, but now? You're _pathetic_. You're going to die here, and the demons shall forever be free."

Fanli dodged another set of arrows, and charged at her with his gold sword. Kraken and Rayearth attacked her constantly, blinding her from the fact that Fanli was right next to her, preparing to cut her down. As he brought his blade down to her head, his weapon clashed with hers. Her bow has separated into two dual knives, as long as her forearm, and slightly curved. "You were never good at sword to sword combat Tempest."

Fanli launched a series of complex sword maneuvers and attacks at Tempest, who barely managed to block most of them. One blow connected to her side, and Fanli connected the attack with a blast of magic, knocking her back a few feet. Tempest clearly was outmatched by the Demon Master in close range, so she quickly switched back to her hawk form and flew back on the rooftops. She reverted back when she landed, drawing her bow once more. "You will never defeat me! Never! I am Tempest! Demoness of the Storms! Prepared to die."

The wind began to howl and air started to chill. "This is over." Tempest let out a deafening scream, drawing a large amount of magic in her bow.

"Heh, I have one last trick up my sleeve. I'd forgotten how much a master influences the mind of a demon. Ragnarok's rage has blinded you from your old self. So, I will release you and return you to your true sense of mind."

"I don't think so." She spun her magical bow, a fired an arrow. It split off in to thousands, millions, _billions_ of arrows.

_It's now or never._ "Time freeze!" Fanli slammed his blade into the ground. The world began to slow, then finally came to a screeching halt. _Whew. Need to hurry before I run out of magic._ He leaped up, and recited the incantation. "I Fanli, bind you Tempest, under contract."

Time returned back to normal, and Tempest vanished. Fanli collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Rayearth gave him a nudge with his snout, whining in despair. _I know. I have to seal the other one._ He dragged himself up, and started running towards the second battle.

Sakura hated the fact that she had to be protected once again, but she was in awe by Syaoran's power. She never seen anything like it. She didn't pay much attention to him last time, at the aquarium, but now, all she can do is watch as Syaoran blast the snake away. _  
__  
Why is he defending me so much? Does he really care for me? Stop it, Sakura! He's just doing this to seal away the demons! He hurt you, remember?!_ That was her last thought before she blacked out.

"Ramuh! Show this demon who is the true ruler of lightening!"

Bolts of lightening collided, and the earth shook from its power. Syaoran, who saw this coming, grabbed Sakura's small body and bolted out of harm's way; Eriol didn't even need a word of warning, he just dashed off with him. Syaoran was ready to '_boot that friggin' snake to Pluto!'_, but...

_Syaoran! Listen, like the dragons, the Elementals/Anti-Elementals are a force of nature. You can't simply destroy them. They can only be binded by contract. You need to weaken it and keep it occupied.__  
__  
OK! Goody..._he thought sarcastically. _Get ready, I'm about to summon you.__  
__  
No! That will drain you! This demon isn't bounded by a human, so their powers aren't as limited. They can regenerate their energy waaaay faster than you can. Just use or merge a few, but keep an eye on your energy. You have a near limitless energy supply, any extremely powerful summonings will deplete your strength, and this is going to be a long fight.__  
__  
Fine! What do you suggest then?__  
__  
Keep it occupied until Fanli shows up.__  
_  
"Everyone, regroup and protect Sakura!" Syaoran yelled, and began his summonings. "Envoy come forth, bind this demon! Odin and Gaia, deal with the underlings!"

A dark barrier boxed in Volt, and Syaoran kept all of his energy focused on keeping that demon in there. Odin and Gaia did a good job sweeping the pathetic low level demons out of the way. Touya and the rest scrambled to Eriol, who was supporting Sakura.

"Dang it! The house!" The house was in complete ruins. Luckily, Fujitaka was away for a few weeks, or else he could have gotten hurt in this battle.

"We have other problems. We need to get to safety, those demons will keep coming until Volt retreats, which won't happen anytime soon, or when that idiot Demon Master will shows up and seals it away." Eriol stated bitterly. He was extremely worried about Tomoyo, she had no magic yet she was standing at the front lines, filming the fight. Eriol scrutinized the group, checking for any serious injuries. "Touya what happened to your arm?"

"I got nicked when the house collapsed. I will be fine."

"Meilin, what happened to your leg?"

"Nearly got hit dead on by one of those lightening bolts." Meilin gasped the words out, filled with pain. "I was clumsy, crashed."

Yue, Ruby Moon, Kero and Spinel weren't in any better shape. Cuts and wounds covered their bodies. The only one in any shape to fight was Eriol, but he was exhausted by fighting Volt for such a long time... all they could do is pray that Syaoran could hold the demons off...

Fanli sprinted into the night, leaping from rooftops to rooftops, trying to reach the Kinomoto's residence before it was too late. _Almost there... I can make-_ His thought was cut off by another dark presence.

"Long time no see, Fanli."

"Ragnarok." Fanli clenched his fists, tightening his hold on his sword. "Wish it was longer."

"Is this how you treat your old guardian?"

"You abandoned me!"

"You breached the contract, you got another heart." The last word was full of disgust and venom.

Fanli calmed himself down. He wasn't stupid; he knew Ragnarok loved the feeling of dark emotions. No way in hell was he going to let this demon get the better of him.

"Why are you in that ridiculous form?"

Ragnarok currently looked exactly like the Shadow card, a floating dark robe, mixed with the "Death" look.

"I thought this is more appropriate for a chat. Don't worry, you'll see me in my true form soon enough."

"Enough talk, why are you here?"

"Oh, I was just out for a walk." Ragnarok attempted to speak innocently, but innocent and Ragnarok don't match, so it came out in a rather malicious tone that sent shudders down Fanli's spine.

"Then I will leave you in your evening stroll. I have other issues to deal with."

"Have fun with Volt!"

Fanli cursed. Volt won't be an easy one...

Volt roared as he broke through his binds, and dived to attack Sakura.

"Sakura!" Syaoran leaped down and stabbed the snake, but it continued its rush. "No!"

The group around Sakura prepared themselves to fend off the snake, but there was no way they can win.

"NO!"

"Tempest! Form a barrier!"

Volt collided against a powerful wind barrier. A barrage of fire balls slammed into the snake before it had a chance to recover.

"You never take your eyes of the prey." Fanli ran up to the dazed and confused snake, drawing his sword. "You're mine."

"Yooouuu..." Volt's words were full of venom and contempt. The barrier had caught him off guard, and the direct attack greatly depleted his energy. He was even more irritated that he fell for the same trick twice. Twice! It didn't help that the Dragon Master spent the last half hour beating the crap out of the demon.

Fanli smiled, sensing how weak Volt currently was, and chanted mockingly, "I, Fanli, bind you Volt, under contract."

"Nooooo." Volt vanished, but his scream and hisses echoed in the dark night.

The battle finally ended.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Back for my weekly update (It will be faster with more reviews hint hint) Now to answer the question from fiasse

"Why couldn't anyone see the Tempest flying over the rooftops, or the neighbours realise the Kinomoto house had a giant snake in it?"

That will be answered in this part. Remember, those without magic are usually pretty ignorant... Anyways yay reviews! Six of em! From...

Fiasse, AngelEmCuti, **Shadow-Wolf-Storm**, Taeniaea, silencynara.

Thanks to my beta yuuwatase719, whose writing is SUPREME! Go check out her page. I know my story is not that great, but I am determined to complete it anyways. Expect at least 10 more chapters. They will be longer!

MengLong

* * *

**Dark Fate chapter 10**

The battle was finally over... Syaoran observed the damage. The house was in ruins. Blood was everywhere. Some parts of the yard was in flames, and most of the ground has been blackened by the barrage of lightening. The aura has fallen.

"Syaoran, we need to get out of here! The demon's barrier is now down, so now anyone can see this damage! There will be too many questions, and I don't think I can brainwash everyone! Especially if there are new cameras" Fanli began to panic when he sensed the curiosity of the neighbors.

Syaoran snapped out of his trance, realizing the logic. "Right!"

A circle of magic, a flash, and the beaten up group was gone.

* * *

Everyone got into Syaoran's house, and collapsed on nearby sofas and chairs. Syaoran placed an unconscious Sakura in an empty guest room. He scanned the room. Pink wallpaper and furniture. Fits her well. He stroked her short brown hair, sighing. He couldn't deny it: he was frustrated.

_Why do you always get in so much danger? I can't always protect you..._

He sighed once again. He had to deal with the rest of the group's injuries. Fanli had apparently helped everyone to a room already, but his magic wasn't the best at healing. Syaoran headed to the room next door, finding Meilin out cold, sprawled out of the bed. He smiled as he watched his little cousin.

_She's really grown up._ He checked her wounded left leg, wincing at its shattered state.

_Origin, give me strength._ Power flowed through Syaoran's hand as he placed it on Meilin's wounded leg. Pale green light emitted from his hand as he fixed her leg to be as good as new. Another check showed no more serious injuries, so after placing another spell to ensure a good night sleep, he went to the next room over, finding a very annoyed and protective older brother of a certian someone.

"What do you want?" Touya was pissed since Syaoran showed up late for the battle, and put Sakura's life on the line. _Just for not coming in time... I'll strangle him when my arm gets better. Screw it, I can do it with one arm!_

Syaoran didn't reply, he just walked over to Sakura's older brother and examined his wounds. He quickly healed his arm and any other injuries, and left.

_I will never understand that brat. He says he loves her, why doesn't he act it? He can't be trusted._

* * *

Everyone else was fine, so Syaoran went back to his sleeping loved one. _I am sorry, Sakura. I promised to protect you._ He held her warm hands, and sighed.

"I'm sorry." Syaoran turned to see Tempest and Volt. He sensed that their aura now seemed a lot less dark. "We apologize for our actions, we weren't in the right state of mind. It doesn't fix anything, but we will help protect you and your friends."

"Thanks." Syaoran stood up, and walked out of the room, heading back to living room. There was a nagging feeling in his mind that he needs to watch the local news. He flipped on the TV and saw a breaking news report.

"We are bringing you live in Tomoeda district of Japan where a house has seemed to be destroyed by some unknown force, and is now in flames. The fire is spreading rapidly, and firefighters are having a hard time containing it. We are warned that an evacuation might be necessary. The house belongs to Fujitaka Kinomoto, who lives with his son and daughter." A picture of the family showed on the screen. "Their is no sign of them, so it has been guessed that they weren't home at the time, despite neighbors' insisting that they were a hundred percent sure that the two children were there at the scene of the arson. None of the neighbors have seen or heard what happened. We will bring you more as the story develops."

Syaoran sighed. If they were one second too slow, they could have been caught. Good thing Fanli snapped him out of it. He summoned Leviathan to deal with the spreading flames, and turned off the TV.

"Good to see Volt can still demolish cities." It was Tempest and Volt again.

"Did Fanli release you two to apologize to me?"

"Nope. Fanli usually lets us roam around. We demons are made of tougher stuff, we can withstand staying in the human world longer than dragons. We thrive from darkness, and this world reeks of it. Not as much as the demon realm, but enough. The apology is from our conscience."

Syaoran snorted at this. "Conscience? How ironic."

"The heart of our master greatly influences us. Besides, the battle caused some serious damage to the city. If it isn't for Volt right now, this house will be in a blackout. As for me, barriers are my specialty. That is how I got passed your very simple one. Don't worry, it's a lot better now."

Syaoran was at loss at words. An hour ago, these demons were trying to kill him, and now, they are on his side. _I'm going to have to get used to this._

* * *

Sakura found herself in a dark cave. She couldn't see anything, except for a single light in the distance. She walked toward it, not knowing where she was. The light turned out to be a magnificent sword, decorated in gold and silver, with two lines intertwining around it. She stared at the sword. The two lines turned out to be a snake and a dragon. The sword floated there, brimming with power and magic. Sakura was awed by it, and couldn't resist touching it. It was as if the sword was calling out to her. Sakura hesitated. Something wasn't right, yet... Sakura finally touched the sword. There was an explosion of magic, and the blade broke. Sakura screamed in surprised. _What the?_ The blade became two, one gold with the snake on it, one silver with the dragon on it, both impaled into the ground. _Why do those swords look familiar?_ She approached them again, and they suddenly floated in front of her.

"The Blade of Space." Sakura looked around for the source of the voice, but couldn't find it. She felt a strange presence around her. "This shall be sent under the Dragon's care."

The silver blade vanished. "The Blade of Time, shall be under the care of the Demons." The golden counterpart vanished.

"Never again, shall the two be united again. Never shall the disastrous power ever exist. Never again, shall the Blade of Dimensions exist." The presence disappeared.

"The Blade of Space... The Blade of Time? What are they?" Sakura wondered to herself.

* * *

_Not bad... not bad at all..._ Ragnarok was still simmering from the demons' latest defeat. _This group might be quite capable after all. We must defeat them, but we must be careful. The Cards will be mine..._

"Ragnarok? Orders?"

"We shall retreat for now, we need to make some preparations."

_Besides, this is the time of year that demons can't stand. The cheer and the happiness... I hate Christmas season..._

* * *

Fanli was sitting on the roof once again. He could feel his demons wandering around the house, Tempest and Volt were in the living room, Kraken was sitting on the front porch, and Rayearth... was right behind him. The wolf sat next to him. He stroked the wolf's beautiful hair, as he wondered to himself.

_Ragnarok? What are you up to?_

* * *

_The next morning... Saturday_

Syaoran was cooking in the large gourmet kitchen, he was a bit rusty, since neither immortals required food, yet the house was well-stocked in case of emergencies. It was quite early, but neither immortal needed sleep either. Sakura and the others had a rough night, they are going to need to their strength. He focused on cracking eggs, cooking bacon and sausages, and dicing tomatoes and peppers. Syaoran loved the smell of food, bringing back a long missing appetite. _This must be what Kero feel like. I guess it can't hurt to have a bite._

Meilin was the first to wake up, and followed her to nose to the kitchen.

"Zao an!"

"Morning Meilin."

"How's your leg?"

"Fine, don't worry about. So... whatcha gonna get her?"

"Huh?"

Meilin smacked his head. "It's the end of November you dolt! Does the word 'Christmas' mean anything!?"

Syaoran turned to read a nearby calender, and smacked his head with his hand. "Son of a-"

"Sh! You're going to wake up everyone!"

"Sorry... dang it, I forgot!"

"What?!"

"I haven't celebrated Christmas for years! I haven't celebrated anything for years!"

"Jeez, you're hopeless." she breathed loudly. "Back to my original question, what are you going to get her?"

Syaoran took a second to think. _I want her to be safe..._ "I'll, uh, get back to you on that."

"Well hurry!" Meilin was quickly cut off when the rest of the group walked came downstairs. They all dragged themselves to the dining room, exhausted from last night. Syaoran brought out plates of food for everyone, and they all began to dig in. After a minute of awkward silence, Syaoran spoke up.

"So... Touya, Sakura, you guys can stay here until things fix up."

Touya glared at the Chinese boy, but resigned himself. "Thanks."

"Actually, I think everyone should stay here, the barrier here is more powerful than any of you can set up."

Everyone murmured in agreement. At that moment, Touya's cell phone began to ring, and he quickly picked up. "Hello? Dad? Dad! Calm down! We are fine! Dad! Will you listen? Sakura and I are staying at the brat's house! We'll be fine! Just focus on your excavation! How did you hear about it anyways? Oh Aunt Sonomi... OK Dad... OK OK OK... OK! Bye!" He finally hung up, and sighed in relief. "Glad to get the over-"

Sakura's phone began to ring. "Hello? Yes I saw the news... No I wasn't there... Rika, can we talk later? I'm getting another call, thanks." She took a quick breath, "Hello? Hey Chiharu. I am fine don't worry. I wasn't there. Neither was Touya. I know the neighbors said we were home but... Wait, I have another call..."

"Hello, Naoko?"

* * *

Sakura finally managed to turn off her phone after dozens of phone calls from various friends making sure she was OK. She wandered out of the dining room and back into her room. Tears began to fall, _Why am I so weak? Why am I so confused?_ She felt extremely tired despite just waking up.

_Everyone has to check on me if I am still alive, everyone has to make sure I am OK... I hate being weak! Syaoran... _

Syaoran frowned, and left the dining room. Sakura is calling for him. As he left the kitchen, he heard Tomoyo pick up her cell phone. _Thank goodness my phone numbers are a secret._

Sakura continued to cry, until she felt warm arms holding her. She didn't look up to see who they belonged to, just enjoyed their strength and warmth. She cried her heart out...

"Sakura."

Sakura looked up to see those warm amber eyes. "Syaoran..." It was years. Years since she called him by his first name, but Syaoran didn't get his hopes up. He knew she just needed a friend right now.

"You know I hate watching you cry."

"Sorry..."

"You sick of being weak?"

He always seemed to know her thoughts. "Hai."

"Don't worry, I'll always protect you, I will never let you get hurt. I promise. I will even help you train during winter break."

"Thanks..."

He continued to hold her in his arms as she fell back asleep.

Syaoran took a quick peek in her mind when she fell asleep, and a dream entered his mind. _The Blade of Time? The Blade of Space? Those are the Demon and Dragon swords... Strange. Don't worry yourself Sakura, I will handle this._

He gently put her back on the large pink bed, and went back to the dining room. The dream kept replaying in his mind as he walked down the stairs, as if haunting him.

"Eriol, what do you know about... legendary weapons?" _Why didn't I just say the Blade of Dimensions?_

_Trust me, you want to learn more about the legendary weapons as well._

_Tian?_

_Shut up and listen._

"The legendary weapons? Why do you ask that?" Eriol seemed surprised that Syaoran heard of them, which grabbed everyone's interest.

"Er... Heard about 'em, no idea what they are though. They seem familiar though."

"I wonder how, there are no books or actual records on them. Supposedly bless by the gods, there were 6 weapons of power. A shield, bow, axe, lance and two swords. The two swords were supposedly the two most powerful ones, but they were said to be cursed by Fate, that they must always be used against each other. Legend says there was a great war called the Draco-Demonic War, a war between the two greatest forces of magic:The Dragons and the Demons. Humans existed at the time, and most of them sided with the Dragons. Notably your ancestors, the Li clan. One clan, the Meng clan, sided with the Demons. Their powers wasn't that powerful though, so they seeked the weapons of legends. The Li clan claimed the four minor ones, and one of the swords. The Meng clan claimed the other sword. No one knows how the battle ended, since their was no survivors or records..."

* * *

Fanli was on the roof again.

_It's beginning to snow... why the hell do I always find myself out here? I feel like there is something out there, but there is no demons._

He was about to head back in the house, when he felt the strange presence again. _There __**is**__ someone out there!_ He turned to try to detect the owner of the presence. It was near.

A young girl watched the demon master from the outside of the barrier. She had long black hair, with dark brown eyes. Her skin was pale, and was about 5'5''. She carried a large bow, nearly as tall as her, gold and carved with intricate ancient runes. It was made of a strong metal, and the bow itself was also a dual edged blade. On her back was a shield, the symbol of a dragon burning through the red background.

_I can't get you... yet... You will pay Demon Master. You will pay for all you have done. How you have scarred my family. You will die, and I will take your cold, dead heart._


	11. Chapter 11

AN: I'm baaaack with chapter 11 of Dark Fate! I have decided to divide the story into arcs. This arc ends on chapter 17, which I just finished writing P. Just need to go over them with my beta, the great yuuwatase719. A lot of new concepts will be introduced, making this story quite complicated. Chapter 17 is nearly five thousand words, so due to my promise, every chapter will be longer or equal length as the last... So arc 3 might take a while. I will try to keep my weekly update promise, but I am also starting to write two more stories, CCS: Path of Clow, based of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. The other one is a secret... for now. Keep an eye out for CCS: Path of Clow, and here is chapter 11. Thanks to the reviewers for the last chapter...

**fiasse **(good luck with To Turn Over a New Flower!), **Taeniaea, Shadow-Wolf-Storm**, **AngelEmCuti, kbookworm**.

Holy crap, everyone reviewed twice! That means... I will post another chapter later today!

* * *

**Dark Fate Chapter 11**

Monday, beginning of November...

Syaoran had a good weekend. No more demon attacks, Sakura was talking to him again, and except for a good Christmas present for her, Syaoran had no worries. They had spent that Sunday picking up stuff from their houses, and afterwards enjoyed themselves shopping and wandering the city. Everyone was in a good, or better (in the case of Touya), mood in that morning, everyone except one person...

Fanli was staring out the window, looking at the snowy yard. He should be getting ready to leave, but there was a nagging feeling in his mind. He was randomly shuffling a deck of blank black cards, mindlessly performing random card tricks.

"Fanli! We're leaving for school!"

"Hai! Go on ahead, I'll catch up!"

He continued to stare out the window and placed the strange black cards back in his pocket, and watched as everyone left the house and head off to school. Touya, Nakuru, and Yukito left shortly afterwards to work. Fanli still sensed the presence outside the barrier. Fanli hasn't left the house all weekend, as he was observing this presence. It was waiting for a certain person, and it has yet leave its post. Considering it didn't follow anyone that has left, that meant that the presence was after him. It was hard to pinpoint the location, but it wasn't exactly difficult to feel the waves of hatred emanating from it.

_This guy wants me dead. Well, it's going to have to catch me first._ Fanli swore when he saw the clock, seeing there is less than a minute until school started.

"Time, freeze!"

Time stopped in the world, and Fanli sprinted out of the house towards the school.

"MADE IT!"

Fanli came bursting through the classroom door, a single second before the bell rang for class to start. Some people laughed at this, but Fanli ignored them, and headed to the back of the class where his seat was. He was surprised to find that Sakura, Tomoyo, Meilin and Eriol all moved to the back of the room with Syaoran.

_There goes my peace and quiet..._

"Fanli? Why are you so late?" Meilin demanded. "You were staring out the house window all morning, what was that about?"

"Sorry, _mother_. I had business to deal with. Why don't you train instead of sticking your nose in other people's business?" This was the first time Fanli snapped out at someone. Though he occasionally cracked a joke or two, he had never demonstrated any dangerous emotions. Everyone was surprised at the outburst, but no one questioned it. They all figured out the Fanli wasn't in the best of moods right now.

_Dang, that presence is putting me on the edge. I have to deal with it._

Class began with the teacher coughing, and then she made an announcement. "Class, I have an important announcement to make. Next month, the school will have a winter dance-"

All the girls squealed and leaped for joy, while a loud groan from the back of the room went unnoticed. All the girls started chatting with their neighbors, discussing their plans and what they were going to wear.

"Attention please! You can buy tickets at the cafeteria during lunch, and you have two weeks to buy tickets-"

The teacher's voice was covered up by more chattering from the girls. The teacher began to start pounding on the table, attempting to call for attention, but failed miserably. She sighed, and decided to wait it out... It took a good twenty minutes before class finally started.

Lunch began with the return of the conversations.

"Who are you going to go with?"

"What are you going to wear?"

"I'm going to ask Li-kun to go with me, of course!"

"We all want to, but he's taken, genius!"

"Who cares?"

"I heard he got together with Kinomoto!"

"Really? I find that surprising. She didn't seem like one to settle. She had a bunch of boys fawning over her."

"That stopped when Syaoran returned though."

"I heard he beat them all up!"

Syaoran groaned when the conversation began to focus on him. He tried to stay unnoticed for a while now, but the girls were to persistent.

"You want me to knock some sense into them?" Meilin asked her cousin, preparing herself by cracking her knuckles. Syaoran pondered the idea for a minute, then declined the offer.

"You'll get in too much trouble... dang it... Why can't they talk about something else?"

More giggles filled the room, and Syaoran slammed his head on the table, swearing loudly.

"This month is going to be hell."

Five minutes into lunch, Syaoran already had 38 invites to the dance, all which he declined. He managed to fight his way through the hallways, and spent a good 10 minutes escaping from the crowd. When he finally managed to lose the wave of screaming girls, he snuck his way to the rooftops, where the rest of the gang was waiting.

"Hey Li, what took you so long? Were you buying a dance ticket?" Eriol asked with a tone of mocking and sarcasm.

"Not interested."

"Why not? We're all going... except for Fanli of course." Tomoyo added the last part when she saw the Chinese boy was glaring at her.

"You don't have to go with a date. You can just go with friends aka US!" Meilin was ecstatic about the dance. She was jumping for joy on the rooftop, happily singing and planning for the event.

"Yea Syaoran, come on! Or are you scared?" Sakura said teasingly.

"Fine, fine. Jeez, tough crowd. Fanli, you gonna go?"

"Over my dead body." Fanli was staring at a forest near the high school, once again shuffling a deck of black cards. He had been staring outside of windows all day, as if watching for something. Everyone knows to not even bother to try to understand this boy, he is too different.

_How could these weeks be so peaceful, yet so annoying?_ Fanli wondered to himself as he walked through the hallways of the school building. Girls were constantly pestering Syaoran for to be his date, and made it impossible for him to buy a ticket to the dance without being ambushed. In the end, Syaoran sent Fanli to buy a ticket for him. No demons attacked, or showed any signs of attacking any time soon, yet Fanli was on the edge. Everybody was too much in the Christmas mood, ignoring his nervousness. It was now a week before the dance, three weeks have passed, and Fanli still had no idea what that presence was. He can't pinpoint its exact location, yet he knew it's still out there. _There __**is**__ going to be a fight soon, but this is __**my**__ fight._ He has no idea why it is "his" fight, but his instincts told him no one else should get involved with this presence. _When can I confront this presence without anyone interfering?_ The most obvious time was during the Winter Dance, but how about the guardians and Touya? How should I keep them occupied? That is when he saw a poster about the dance. "Help wanted?" This was just too perfect.

"You want us to work at the Winter Dance?" Touya asked incredulously. He hardly knows this other Chinese brat, yet this kid is already pushing Touya around with orders.

"You hard of hearing?"

"No! Are you insane?"

"Let me sum it up in simple terms. There is a dark presence out there, and in case of an attack, I want you guys to be on guard and be able to quickly help. I will be patrolling and seeking out this force out."

"So.. then what do we do?" Yukito asked.

"I dunno, chaperoning, helping out..."

"Sounds fun." Nakuru chipped in. "Let's do it! I haven't been to dance for soooo long! Touya can dance with me!" Touya glared at her, wanting to draw his magic and blast her to smithereens.

"Good, thanks. Kero, Suppi, you two will stay on the rooftops, I'll provide you two with a cloaking spell. And remember: _don't tell them about this plan_."

Syaoran sensed a slight disturbance, a presence somewhere in the city, but he ignored it. It had no intentions of hurting his friends. Yet... it was after someone. The presence is one of light, not of darkness. It isn't demon, then what it is? He considered consulting Fanli, but he was edgy recently. He doesn't want to bother anyone else during Christmas season. Not to mention he still has to find a present for Sakura...

_Ah the struggles of teenagers these days.__  
__  
Shut up Tian. I'm trying to __**think**__ here.__  
__  
Think? You? The horror!__  
__  
Can you do anything besides insulting people?__  
__  
Yep, I can help you with a present that she will love. You can make it with the power of the dragons. It isn't easy, but if you really want to protect her...__  
__  
What is it?__  
__  
OK, here we go!_

Syaoran began chanting an incantation...

The night of truth is finally here. The Winter Dance. The house was full of chaos, since everyone except a certain person was going. The girls were hectic as they tried to get dressed, while the guys were all sitting downstairs, waiting. Eriol was dressed in a dark blue suit, his eyes and hair matching with it accurately. He held a red rose which he clearly brought for Tomoyo. Syaoran, refusing to wear a tuxedo, was wearing dark green Chinese style robes, with tan pants under it (when he first wore it, Meilin was swearing on her life that it looked _exactly_ like his warrior outfit from CardCaptoring... they were still arguing about that, for that matter). He was dressed that way for another reason: he didn't want to be slowed down with a suit if another battle breaks out. Touya and Yukito were wearing matching plain black and white suits. Kero and Suppi were hidden in their pockets.

"Jeez, why do girls take so long to get ready?" Syaoran muttered as he checked the clock on the living room wall.

"Who knows, girls are a mystery to even the wisest of men." Eriol answered impatiently. His patience was being pushed to the limit.

"Ah, the minds of women. Difficult to comprehend." Fanli entered the room. "Hope you guys enjoy the dance. I'm gonna head out."

"Where ya going?" Syaoran asked suspiciously. _Does this has something to do with the presence?_ The thought was distracted when the girls finally came downstairs. Each girl was dressed in a similar dress designed by Tomoyo herself, each a different color. Tomoyo wore a lavender dress, her amethyst eyes revealing no contrast, Meilin wore a red one, defining her bright, fiery spirit, and Sakura wore one that was bright pink, decorated with cherry blossoms. Nakuru, despite being a chaperone, was also dressed formally.

"Come on, lets get going guys... Guys?" Nakuru chirped happily.

Eriol and Syaoran were frozen at the spot, paralyzed. Suddenly, their complaints about taking too long were immediately forgotten. "What's wrong with you guys?" Sakura asked.

_As dense and innocent as ever Sakura, no matter how much you pretend to be different..._

"No-nothing! Come on, let's go!"

"Would you like to dance?"

Tomoyo giggled. Eriol was a true gentlemen as ever. It was amusing, almost, to see him act English again, and she placed her small, pale hand into his, alabaster cheeks glowing a deep crimson. He ignored her embarrassment, and laughing, he grabbed her hand and they ran out to the dance floor, as she squealed protests laughingly. Sakura wanted to scream,

_Don't leave me!_

"Uh..." Syaoran managed out.

_Oh, reeeal smooth_. Tian tried not to laugh as he saw the girl's confused face.

"Hoe?"

Fanli ran through the forest path into an empty clearing covered with snow. _OK, come on, where the hell are you? I am alone now. Just me and you... bring it!_

A cloaked girl sat on a tree, a hundred feet away from the Demon Master. _You're mine!_ She pulled out her bow, and pulled an invisible string, and a magical arrow appeared. Her hand trembled in excitement as she aimed, and fired.

Fanli felt a burst of magic. _So it begins._ He cast a barrier around the forest area to ensure this threat didn't escape, and prepared to engage. An arrow came flying towards straight towards his head. Fanli casted a powerful barrier to block it, but it was shattered by the arrow. "What the-" Fanli leaped to the side to dodge the arrow. "How the hell did that break my barrier? Nothing should have been able to break that except... no way a legendary weapon?" This will be problematic. Another arrow was launched toward his direction, and he dodged again. It flew right passed his head, barely hitting him.

"This is a good archer..." Fanli dodged again and again. The mystery archer kept moving, so the shots were coming from different directions. _Left, right, behind me... DANG IT! Enough of this!_

"Tempest! Grant me the power of the wind!" Fanli leaped into the sky and hovered there. "Volt! Strike with a lightening barrage!" Arcs of lightening fell from the sky, colliding with the ground. He didn't bother to aim, since he can't tell where this warrior was... yet. He sensed a barrier to the right of him. _Gotcha!_ He flew towards that direction, and saw a cloaked figure.

"So, who the hell are you?" Fanli demanded when he landed on a the snowy tree. The archer tried to run, but he sent a blast of wind. The archer drew out a shield, which formed a large barrier. The wind turned out to be stronger, since the barrier shattered, sending the shield flying. The force also blew off the hood of the cloak, revealing long black hair and a feminine face.

"Jeez, you're a little girl!"

"I'm not a little girl! I am 17! I'm a warrior of the Lin clan, prepare to die!"

_The.. Lin clan... So my past caught up with my present._ He drew his blade, and prepared himself as she dived towards him with her blade-edged bow. She hacked at his head, which he blocked easily. _Her emotions are getting in the way, but she is a very formidable fighter in close range as well._ He blocked her next set of strikes, and sent a blast of magic at her. She swore loudly, and fled, forgetting to pick up her shield. He sent another blast of magic, ensnaring her with a wind spell. He was about to dive and for the kill, but stopped when his blade was millimeters away.

"Just finish me already."

"No, you are not of darkness. Your heart is pure. I won't kill you."

"That didn't stop you from slaughtering before."

"Why the hell are you complaining?"

"I have been spared by a demon, there is no more shame than that."

"You are too prideful. You Lins need to take it down a notch."

"Screw you bastard. What, am I not even worth killing?"

"If you don't shut up and leave I will."

He let go of her, and she swore again as she fell to the ground. She glared at him with her dark brown eyes, as if considering to attack again, but thought otherwise as she retreated back into the forest.

"That was too easy. But, that wasn't her best..." Fanli muttered. "She will be back."

He picked up an examined the abandoned shield. It was a large red shield, and had a dragon engraved on it. "Another legendary weapon?" _She definitely is part of the Lin clan. They were in charge of the four..._ He carried the shield back to his house, and wondered how Syaoran was doing.

Fanli watched as Touya drove into the driveway. The rest of the group seemed to be asleep in the minivan (except for Syaoran of course.) The group of teens staggered out of the car and dragged themselves back into the house. Fanli chuckled when he saw how tired most of them were. "Dancing takes a lot out of you eh?" Most of them replied with a grumble as they pulled themselves up the stairs and into their rooms. A surge of power came from nowhere, emitting from Fanli's room, which gave everyone a shock. _How did Tomoyo feel that? She shouldn't feel that burst of magic... unless..._ Fanli ran to his room and checked on the shield he retrieved. It was glowing, fighting the restraints he placed on it to ensure that the Lin girl doesn't try to steal it back. _Has it already selected its next master? And it is..._ Fanli undid the bounds, and the shield went flying. It went through a couple rooms, and every one jumped in surprise. Especially the one who the shield floated to: Tomoyo. _Looks like things are going to get INTERESTING._


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Sorry, sorry, sorry sorry I know I said I was going to update on Saturday, but got held up. A bunch of errors and problems came up. Anyways, here is chapter 12 in its limited glory. Note to everyone out there, I'm trying to make this story as original as possible compared to any other fanfics. You are warned. This is going to long and different. Thanks to yuuwatase719 for betaing and dealing with my terrible grammar, and taking time from her busy schedule during the summer. No more running into her at school and getting yelled at for grammar. And thanks to AngelEmCuti and Fiasse for reviewing the last chapter. All you guys give me hope that this story is getting somewhere! And wahoo for over 1000 hits!

"Oh, my!" Tomoyo leapt in surprise when the shield came hurling towards her. It stopped and hovered next to the girl. When she tried to move away from the floating shield, it simply followed her, unwilling to detach itself from its new mistress. "What's going on?"

"That's a legendary weapon." Eriol stated in disbelief. "So they do exist."

"Of course they exist." Fanli snorted. "Syaoran and I already possess the two swords, and that right there is the Dracoshield. I got it while you guys were at the dance."

Syaoran scowled. "Why didn't you call for help?"

"I didn't need it. Anyways, the Dracoshield has apparently selected Tomoyo as its mistress. She is Sakura's second cousin after all, so she must has some magic in her blood, no matter how little. It picked her, and it will stand by her for the rest of her life. So tomorrow, she will join us in training-"

"NO!" Eriol yelled at the suggestion. "She isn't going to fight the demons with us. It is too dangerous, too risky... I simply cannot allow you to risk Tomoyo's life!"

"The Dracoshield is a weapon with great power. Its defense magic is as good as mine or Syaoran's, plus it can be tapped as a source of magic for offense. She will be fine. It'll be a waste not to train her."

"A waste? She's a human being for god's sake, not a pawn to be sacrificed in some game!"

"We need all the firepower possible, all the help we can get. You must realize that Eriol."

"She is **not**-"

"Eriol-san... I am... I wish to help." Tomoyo finally spoke up after the shock. "I want to help. I have always stayed at the sidelines, but the danger now is great. If I can help, I will."

"But-"

"No buts." she said firmly, unable, however, to stop the fluttering in her heart from the flattery of Eriol's fierce, concerned nature. "I will train and fight."

"Sakura, please talk some sense in to her. It is clearly too dangerous! She'll be _killed_ out there!"

Sakura was unsure what to say. This war was too dangerous for her friend to get involved in, but she knew she couldn't persuade Tomoyo out of anything. She was too stubborn. She may have been shy, sweet Tomoyo Daidouji, but she was still shy, sweet Tomoyo Daidouji, daughter of Sonomi Daidouji (whom everyone knew would back out of a fight just as soon as she would kick a homeless man for the fun of it).

"Just let her be."

Eriol gave up. "Fine, but _I_ am going to be supervising her training." he glared at everyone with a look that could have melted rock, as if challenging anyone to dare oppose the mystical powers with which he protected his lover. (Of course, both Fanli and Syaoran can beat him senseless, but they are not in the mood to try.)

"Well now that is settled, everyone should go to sleep."

Tomoyo was still observing her new weapon, examining every inch of it. It was clean and unscratched, yet it's recognizable that this shield has been in many battles."

"You know, you can make that smaller and portable."

"Huh?"

"Just give it the order, just like Sakura's staff. When you get stronger, you can give it commands in your mind."

"Uh... OK... Dracoshield, revert forms... please?" Tomoyo's voice was full of doubt and lacked confidence, but the shield didn't mind. It shrunk to the size of a small talisman, and became a necklace around her neck. She checked out her new necklace. "Cool!"

_Meng blood runs strong..._

The next morning, 4 AM, training began. Magic was used to warm up the yard.

"OK, the demons supposedly can't stand Christmas, so this is the time to train train train." Syaoran walked up and down the line of trainees, not unlike as if he was a Drill Sargent. "This won't be easy training, this will be hard and painful. If you want to survive an hour in a large scale battle, not like the little skirmishes so far, we need to be stronger! UNDERSTOOD!?" he bellowed at the tired and terrorfied group.

Everyone nodded, with slight terror in their eyes. They knew that Li clan training is supposed to be difficult. Though Eriol, Sakura and Meilin were in good shape, they were doubtful that they will be able to handle this type of training. Fanli was observing from the roof, laughing at their expressions. In his hands, he was once again shuffling a strange deck of cards. _I really need to ask him about that sometime..._

"OK, today, we work on physical skills. Time to whip you all into shape. Let's begin!"

So they began with basic punches and kicks, from basic posture to endurance training. They trained their flexibility and strength as they pushed themselves to their limit in each complicated maneuver. No normal human should have been able to improve at that rate, but they all have magic flowing in them. They quickly moved on to more complicated skills. By noon, everyone was able to defend themselves in a situation with no magic.

"Good job everyone! Quick lunch break, and we will continue." Everybody groaned as they walked into the house. Fanli laughed again, thinking of how this day is going to be quite entertaining.

The Lin clan teenager aimed her bow for the Demon Master's heart. She had spent all night breaking through the powerful barrier, and nearly killed herself in the process. Luckily, a burst of magic had knocked the barrier down temporarily. She spent another few hours concealing herself, which was difficult without her shield. _This time... YOU ARE MINE!_ She fired an arrow, and chanted a spell. The single arrow became twenty, all soaring towards Fanli.

Fanli swore when he felt the pulse of anger, and leaped off the roof. Despite his superhuman speed, he was still too slow as an arrow impaled him on side. He swore again when he crashed on to the ground, groaning in pain. _This girl doesn't know when to quit!_

Syaoran and the rest sensed the danger, and came running out of the house again. They saw the cloaked girl in a tree, and drew out their weapons. "Who the hell are you?" Syaoran snapped, posing as the "dashing figure that continuously makes no wrong and ends up saving the d-" Well, yeah, you get it.

"Lin Li-Xiahua!" was torn out of the mouth of the hostile girl as she leaped towards them. _Lin Li-Xiahua? What kind of name is that?_ "The name is Lin Xiahua!"

"Who gives a crap about her name! She wants a fight? Raitei shourai!" Meilin was the first to strike, sending a bolt of lightening at the tree the archer was concealed in. Xiahua easily dodged the attack by leaping towards another tree. "Windy!" Xiahua didn't anticipate the second attack would come so quickly, and was blasted back by wind. She cursed and fired an arrow, still aiming at the Demon Master, but Tomoyo leaped in front of the shot. "Dracoshield, come to my aid!" The legendary shield formed a powerful barrier that easily blocked the attack.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY AND HURT HER, STUPID LITTLE-!" Eriol was pissed when he saw Tomoyo was in danger, and he flared. Forget English gentleman, he was out to _kill_. He sent dozens of fireballs towards Xiahua. She was surprised when she recognized the power, and was blasted head on by it. She swore yet again, and sent a dozen more arrows, this time to the whole group. Touya deflect most of them with his sword, and Yue and Nakuru replied with their own attacks. Xiahua leaped for cover as dozens of crystals crashed at the position she previously was. Just when she thought she got to safety, Kero and Spinel sent jet of flames at her cover, blasting it to smithereens. She leaped on to another tree, and glared at her attackers.

"Wood! Come to aid and bind the hostile being who so threatens us!" Sakura shouted with all of her might, slamming her key high above her head so that Wood, upon hearing its mistress, came immediately to help.

Xiahua screamed as the tree came to life and trapped her. Yue followed up with a few arrows. Xiahua managed to hack her way out of the tree with the blades on her bow, and moved out of harms way. She fired another arrow, once again focused on Fanli, but Meilin blocked it with a fire spell. The four guardians flew above the enemy, sending attacks from above. Xiahua dodged most of it, but some managed to graze her skin. Eriol continued his rampage with more fireballs, spewing at the rate of a machine gun and with the accuracy of a sniper. After being knocked down for the tenth time, Xiahua Lin was getting sick of the fight.

"Prepare to die! No one shall stop me from killing the Demon Master! Guardian of the Lin clan, come forth!" A ball of bright yellow and red flames emerged next to the Xiahua, and a brilliant red bird emerged from the fire; a phoenix. "Show your power!" The phoenix was once again enveloped in flames, and grew. It became the size of the house, and it dived towards the group, still bursting in flames, sending barrages of flames at the group.

"Watery! Windy!"

"Suiryu shourai! Fuuka shourai!"

Sakura's and Meilin's combined effort failed to bind the raging phoenix. Eriol and Tomoyo conjured barriers together, trying to stop the flames, but it only held for a short bit of time before they were overwhelmed. _My turn._ "Leviathan, come forth!"

_Leviathan? The Water Dragon... that means... The Dragon Master?! He's here? Why is he siding with-_

Xiahua's thoughts were cut off when Leviathan crushed her summoned phoenix. Pain erupted in her body as she passed out.

"Who the hell is she?" Touya demanded to no one in particular. Everyone was back inside, and the girl was sealed in an empty bedroom. He turned to face Fanli, who managed to drag himself onto a living room couch. "And why does she want to kill you so badly?"

"That girl is from Lin clan, a powerful warrior and sorcerer clan." Fanli managed to wheeze out. "The Lin clan was rumored to hold the four legendary weapons, and it turned out to be true."

"That doesn't answer my second question."

"Just say I crossed paths with that family before. Many, many times. And say I left them quite pissed."

"Evasive as ever eh?"

"Leave him alone onii-chan, we still need to consider what to do with this Lin girl." Sakura ended the little dispute. "She's a threat, but she isn't evil. I can tell." Everyone agreed to that.

"We will let her live." Fanli struggled to speak. His wound had already healed, but it still pained him to speak. "We shall not shed the blood of the innocent."

"You call that little beeep (A/N: Please allow your imagination to run wild... here.) innocent?" Eriol roared, still angry that this girl attacked Tomoyo.

"I understand her motives, so yes."

"Fine. We will let her live. We will see if she will still be a threat to us." Syaoran finished the conversation.

_Dang it, my life force is fading, that arrow did more damage than I thought. Dang... how could I be so careless? Looks like I am as good as dead... But I am still needed. I have to help Syaoran. I have to free the Demon Lords. That means... I have to... take it back. The power I swore to never use again. The power that I used... to kill... her... Sorry... Mia... but I must pay reparations for my actions. Powers of the darkness locked inside me... I Fanli, call you once again..._ A new voice entered his head.

_I knew you will call me back, Yan..._

_Go to hell. YOU ARE MY DARKNESS!__  
__  
Whatever you say...__  
_

Xiahua screamed in pain and misery when she woke up. _I failed to kill him again, and now he's keeping me prisoner!_ She never hated herself this much before. She pushed herself off a comfortable blue bed, and dragged herself to the window. She picked up her bow, and used it as support. She was too weak to use it right now, summoning the Lin guardian had taken too much magic. She watched the group that crushed her yesterday train as the Dragon Master was sparring with the Demon Master. They clearly had a mastery in swordsmanship, a skill she has yet to master. _I have some questions that need to be answered._ She pushed her way out of the room and walked downstairs.

Meilin and Tomoyo took a break from their training to watch Syaoran and Fanli train, and soon enough, a small crowd was watching the ongoing duel. Neither of them showed any weakness, both blocked every attack that was thrown at them, neither could gain an advantage. Syaoran flipped to the side as he dodged another slash, and hacked low. Fanli did a backflip to avoid the low attack, and pushed off the ground immediately after he landed. He flung himself back towards his opponent. Their swords clashed again, ringing as they clashed. They continued their fight, until Fanli flinched from the pain on his side. Syaoran managed to break through his defense, and won the duel.

"You haven't fully recovered yet."

"And you exhausted a lot of magic for a gift for specific someone. It was a fair fight."

The crowd applauded the wonderful match, and they went back to their training. Sakura worked with Syaoran on expanding her magic and using more cards simultaneously. Syaoran also helped Meilin to master her ofuda magic and her compass. Tomoyo mastered her shield quite easily, and began working on offensive magic with Eriol. She even managed to conjure a few fireballs and a burst of lightening or two. Touya worked with Fanli in sparring, while the guardians just did some target practice. It was only day 2, but their magic was developing quickly. When the demons return, they will be ready.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Everyone turned to face the teenage archer slowly walking out of the house, using her bow as a crutch. "WHY IS THE DRAGON MASTER, THE CARD MISTRESS, ALL FOUR GUARDIANS, THE NEW SHIELD MISTRESS, THE AFTERLIFE-SEEKER, AND CLOW'S REED REINCARNATION ALL ON _HIS_ SIDE?" There was much venom in her tone, along with confusion (not to mention, a lot of panting... all those names could really take a lot out of a girl). "HE IS EVIL! HE WILL BETRAY YOU ALL-"

Syaoran had enough of this. "Enough. Fanli is not our enemy. The demons are."

"AND HE IS THE DEMON MASTER! HE CONTROLS THOSE MONSTERS!"

"You better check the line ups again. The demons deserted him."

Xiahua was surprised at this. Why would the demons betray a master that is so dark, so corrupted, so evil? Fanli was the perfect candidate for the Demon Master.

"What?"

"Yea, that's right. I am making amends." Fanli finally spoke up to defend himself. "I can't undo my previous actions, nor will I bother asking for forgiveness, but the best I can do... is stop the demons. And kill them all."

"That's the plan."

"You are all insane... the demons can't be defeated." Xiahua retorted. She shuddered as she thought of the monstrosity of the demons. The deaths, the screams... and she made her decision. "Lucky for you guys, I like crazy."

Everyone was surprised at the last comment.

"What? You are all fighting the same enemy as me. I will join you. But-" She turned back to Fanli. "We need to settle our fight."

Fanli nodded. "Tomorrow morning. Last one standing wins. Winner has the choice on claiming the loser's life."

"Fanli, you can't! We need you to seal the demons!"

Fanli waved it off, "No rules, battle boundaries will be set of this property. No intervention."

"Fanli, your wounds haven't fully healed, and your strength is really low. Reconsider-"

"Tomorrow." And that was final. The tension in the air was palpable as the Xiahua and Fanli glared at each other. "A battle of life or death."


	13. Chapter 13

AN: I'm back with Chapter 13! Yipee for weekly updates! I just need to hurry up and finish editing chapter 17, the end of this arc. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one, so sorry about that. Thanks again for my great beta yuuwatase719 (who like me, is stuck in summer classes at a community college) and for the recent reviewers...

AngelEmCuti (whose fanfic Life at the Academy deserves more attention)

kbookworm3 (thanks for the long reviews P)

fiasse (Good luck with To Turn Over a New Flower!)

OK, enough of the typical stuff, you want the story.

* * *

**Dark Fate ch 13  
**

_Hello sister._

_Yan. You seem well. What is it? A hundred years now?_

_Give or take. How's the afterlife?_

_Better than expected. I believe you met my great-great-grandkids._

_Yeah, the older one is an idiot. The younger one has a pure heart though. Makes up for the idiot._

_So what's the occasion? You rarely talk to me after..._

_Yea I know, I know. I'm here because... she's back._

_Mia?_

_No..._

_Then who... oh! The little sister? She's still alive?_

_In a way... it isn't the same her.._

_Ah I see... Well good luck with that. Only you can deal with her._

_Thanks..._

_Yan?_

_Yea?_

_Take care of them will you?_

_I'll do my best._

_And Yan?_

_Yes?_

_Don't blame yourself for everything. It was the will of Fate._

_Fate can go to hell. Better yet, I will send it there._

* * *

Morning arrived, and the duel was about to begin. Fanli and Xiahua faced each other in the backyard, weapons ready. Magic was used to get rid of the snow. Fanli was dressed in a gray t-shirt and black sweats, but did not carry his Demon Sword. Instead, he carried a smaller and lighter sword. It was old and dull. Xiahua was wearing the same ceremonial clothes (Pale white Chinese robe and cloak) she always wore. Both fighters had spent most of the day before recovering. Everyone else stood on top of the roof, tense and worried. They all know that Xiahua is fully intending to kill Fanli, but nobody could stop them. All they could do is watch and hope.

"Shall we begin?" Fanli asked his opponent. Xiahua replied with a nod. "Very well." Fanli drew his sword, and charged at her with superhuman speed. She pulled out her bow and prepared to block, but the blow never came.

_Where the hell did he go?_ Fanli had vanished in thin air. Everyone on the roof started were surprised at the speed Fanli moved, and how easily he vanished. Xiahua closed her eyes, trying to track him, but no luck. _Where is he? I can't even feel his presence! How did he-_ Her thought ended abruptly as he reappeared right behind her, and he slashed down his sword at deadly speed. He was too fast and too close, so all she could do was dive away from the attack, but had a blow to her shoulder. _He's fast!_ She aimed her bow at the Demon Master, but he vanished again. _Are you kidding me? How the hell did he get so strong?_ Her instincts told her to keep moving, so she ran and leaped to the top of a nearby tree. Halfway through her jump though, Fanli reappeared once more and knocked her off her trajectory, sending her sprawling towards the ground. Out of luck and skill, she managed to land semi-gracefully. Fanli vanished once again. Xiahua was pissed, it was hard to fight someone who keeps disappearing and reappearing.

"Face me head on coward!"

"Funny, hearing that from a stealth sniper... Rule number one in the fights with any demon, demons don't fight fair." _Where is that voice coming from?_ "But I guess I should make it fair. Or else this will end soon. Don't want to classify myself as a demon now." Fanli reappeared a few feet in front of her. "Fine, head on. Bring it!"

Xiahua swore as she fired a barrage of arrows towards her sworn enemy. He formed a dark barrier around him, which blocked the arrows effortlessly. _What the? Last time he couldn't block it... but... this isn't normal demon magic! He's too strong...!_

"Demonic Lighting Circle!" A circle of blue light surrounded Fanli, and a barrage of shock waves were launched in the ground. Xiahua leaped off the tree she was standing on and landed on a neighboring tree as the blasts hit the their target, which was followed a rain of lightening bolts. _Daaaaaang! That is powerful!_

"Demonic Explosion!" The tree she was standing on exploded, sending her and pieces of wood flying across the yard. She crashed on the ground, rolled back to a defensive stance, and fired another arrow. The barrier reappeared around him, stopping the arrow. She swore as she dodged yet another powerful spell. _This fight is going to be a b-_

"I knew it. He is a lot more powerful than he let on." Syaoran watched the one sided fight. Fanli's magic used to seem a lot weaker than Syaoran's, but now he isn't so sure. He could feel that Fanli isn't tapping into the powers of his Demon Lords, so this strength is Fanli's. It reeks of darkness and strength. These spells are entirely different than the ones he used before. Where did he get this power? _Time to see how strong you truly are._

"Demonic Tidal Wave!" A wave of water collapsed on top of Xiahua, and the yard began to fill with water. "Dark Whirlpool!" A cyclone of water ensnared and pinned Xiahua in a single location, and threw her across the yard. She slammed against the fence, but managed to push off and tried to land on another tree, but a geyser slammed into her from below. It formed a ball around her, trapping her in a cage of water. "Freeze!" The water froze and slammed into the ground.The flood vanished, leaving the chunk of ice alone in the yard.

_This guy is dead meat!_ She refused to lose to him. Xiahua focused all her energy again. "Guardian of the Lin clan..."

Fanli frowned, _Again? Lin guardian? I dare you._ He felt his dark energy brimming within him. _This feels good, this is- No, not now... can't lost control...__  
__  
I am back.__  
__  
NO!__  
_  
A blazing phoenix erupted from its icy prison, and launched a full on assault with fireballs and jets of flame. It dived towards Fanli, who didn't panic at all against the giant bird flying at him. He raised his hand, and an orb of dark energy slammed into the Lin guardian. It grew and swallowed it whole, consuming the phoenix in its darkness. Then it vanished.

Sakura jumped in surprise. _That magic! It's almost exactly like the Sealed Card! Hope?_

_Yes Mistress, that magic is the same as mine. But many times more powerful. It consumed that great phoenix with ease. Be warned, Card Mistress, that boy shouldn't be held lightly. He posses great dark magic. He can't be trusted._

Xiahua screamed in pain as her guardian vanished. A great force was ripped out of her body forcibly, pain erupted everywhere. She moaned as she collapsed on the ground, pain overwhelmed her. She shuddered, it felt very cold without her guardian. A piece of her soul was torn off her. She just wanted to die. _Please... just.._ She screamed her lungs out and her vision began to black out.

"Fanli!" Syaoran roared. "You're killing her!" He didn't respond, just stared at the crying girl with his dark eyes. "Fanli! Dang it, Salamandra, snap him out of it!" The fire dragon sent a wave of fire at his friend, but the dark energy shielded him. "Dang it, Fanli snap out of it!" Syaoran leaped off the roof, diving his blade towards at the Demon Master. The dark energy, once again, blocked it, and threw him back on the roof.

"Hope! Return Fanli to his right state of mind!"

A blast of light exploded from Sakura's staff and slammed into the dark energy. _Come on! I can do it!_

_Welcome back to your darkness Fanli.__  
__  
Shut up.__  
__  
Surrender.__  
__  
Go to hell.__  
__  
Already there.__  
__  
I won't surrender to you. This is MY darkness. This is MY power. I control it. It won't control me.__  
__  
Too late. Watch your friends die.__  
__  
NO!__  
__  
Ah, looks like we have a guest, looks like I can claim the Card Mistress with this darkness.__  
__  
NO! Don't you dare hurt her.__  
__  
You care for her?__  
__  
Not me. My friends.__  
__  
Ah the Hope, how useless. Watch her die.__  
__  
SCREW YOU! YOU'RE UNDER MY CONTROL._

Fanli was trapped in his own darkness, lost and hopeless. But he isn't going to go down without fighting. _I have no light left but... _He pulled out his greatest treasure, hidden in his soul. _Please, be my light again... Lin Mia._ Blinding white light, and the darkness began to vanish.

--Flashback--

"Yan." A young girl faced a young boy, shrouded with evil. They were in the middle of a blazing fire, burning down a large village. "I will save you." She was wearing a white Chinese robe and cloak carrying a long, golden bladed bow.

"Yan is gone." His voice was full of malice and hatred, inhuman and dark. Its echoes drove into the girl's skull. "Now I will take the life of his true love."

"I will save him. Begone demon." She dived at the boy with a bladed bow, and clashed with the possessed boy. The Demon Master was fast, but the girl was no slouch either. She deflected all of his attacks, her eyes glinting with determination. The fight continued, neither side gaining an advantage, until she finally trumped him. She managed to cut the boy's leg and knock him down. She quickly placed her bladed bow over his neck. "Return Yan!"

She felt sharp pain through her stomach-a blade had been stabbed through her. Crimson blood began to stain her white clothes. "Yan is not here anymore. Now you will die, and his heart will finally be destroyed."

"No..."

"His heart will vanish. He soul will be destroyed. He will cease to exist as Meng Yan, he will no longer be the great Nightmare, and he'll be reborn as the great Dark Ragnarok." (AM: Meng Yan means nightmare in Chinese)

"Then he can have... mine..." And orb of light appeared in her hand, and she thrusted it deep into young Yan. He roared in pain as all life vanished from the girl.

"No!" The scream was not human, it was a roar of darkness and lost souls as bright light erupted from his chest. "It's not over!"

The darkness vanished, and Yan picked up the dead girl.

"Mia... I'm so sorry." He started to cry, the tears burnt his face, leaving a trail a blood. He stared at the destroyed city, around him. Great fires burning what was once his home. He let out another demonic scream. _Ragnarok. You're MINE!_

"No!" Fanli snapped out of his rage. He ended all of his spells and returned the phoenix back into its host. "I will not lose control... ever again... dang it."

"Fanli? Is that you?" Syaoran leaped down and landed next to him.

"Yeah, check on Xiahua." was all he managed

Meilin and Tomoyo ran over to Xiahua's side. "I think she will be ok, she is a bit tired."

"If she had gotten her guardian back a bit slower... dang it. Dang... I promised her..."

A graveyard was now located where his home used to be. Yan spent hours using his magic to clean the mess and bury the dead. He killed his whole clan and... her. His blade was drenched in blood, tainted by the destruction it caused, yet it seemed to long for more. He walked through the rows of the dead, and arrived at a specific grave. "I promise, I will never lose control again. I will never wield the darkness again. I will kill and destroy Ragnarok. I will not die until your death is avenged. I will change my name, and rid myself of my past. I will take no more innocent lives, only those beyond saving from the darkness. And when I am done, I will join you in the otherworld. Please, Mia..."

Tears... beautiful, sparkling tears slid down his face silently, as he let the nothingness in his emotions embrace him.

"...wait for me."

Li wandered into the house's library, a room he seldom visited. Any time he needed any answer about magic, he had Eriol or even Fanli to talk to. Everyone was hectic about the battle, tending to Fanli's and Xiahua's wounds. Both contenders nearly killed themselves out there, and Syaoran wants some answers. What is Fanli not telling him? Syaoran had no idea what he was looking for, or why was he even there, but he took a wild guess that some answers could lie here.. He flipped through some random books on ancient magic and history, and saw that the desk in the room was covered with papers, filled with Fanli's handwriting. Normally he would respect his fellow immortal's privacy, but something attracted him towards the papers. He randomly flipped through some of the papers, reading some of the notes. There were manuscripts with notes scribbled on the side, in various colors.

**Lodesto****nes****  
****  
Lodestones look like normal everyday rocks, and emit no magic until activated. The power opens portals, allowing beings to cross through.** (FL Notes: Demons get through using these?) **These area of affect is limited depending on the size of the stone, a large stone can allow beings to cross a within a limited radius, up to the 100 miles.** (Is there one in Tomoeda? Must check for unusual activity.) **The generated magical area allows magic from the alternate dimensions to flow through. **(Explains the demons' magic. They are limited to Japan, but the magic is strongest in Tomoeda... how come I haven't found it yet?) **These stones can be easily deactivated, but the methods to destroy one is unknown. It's rumored that they didn't come from this world, as there is no actual source of these stones. Their origin as of now is inconclusive.** (Evidence of the Dimensional Wars?)

_What are the Dimensional Wars? These lodestones... strange._ Li flipped to the next sheet. It was a list of names.

**Lin Clan**

**Lin Huayin - deceased 1903****  
Lin Mia - Deceased 1906****  
Lin Xiahua Deceased 1921****  
**  
_Deceased? Strange, Lin Xiahua is not on this list again..._ A name was highlighted on the list.

**Lin Lily**

_What's his interest in this girl?_ He flipped another page. It's about immortals, nothing new. The next was about reincarnations. A few lines were highlighted.

**Reincarnations have all the memories of their last life... Their emotions are not typically carried over, depends on the memories... Their personality might not be the same... They may not look the same as their past life... There are no cases in which a previous life attempts to take over the reincarnation...**

_Strange... is he looking up Eriol? Does he have something against Clow?_ The next page was about the Clow Book, which he ignored. The last page seemed to be a journal.

**I have all these strange dreams... of a great war... a great weapon...****  
****  
There's someone else in my mind... he's trying to take over... he won't win. He's there. Am I going insane? Am I paranoid?****  
****  
Fong Wei Reed... who the hell are you?**

"Who the hell is Fong Wei Reed?" _Fanli is not tellin me something._


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Weekly update, back with ch 14. Three more until this arc ends. Yay for 18 reviews and 1500 hits. Much more than I expected. Thanks to my beta yuuwatase719, and thanks to these reviewers for the last chapter.

Shadow-Wolf-Storm

AngelEmCuti

Fiasse

Yipee for loyal readers and reviewers, and here it is.

**Dark Fate ch 14**

Xiahua groaned in pain as she began to wake. Her shoulder ached from the blow she took yesterday from the duel. _I lost..._ She began to stir and acknowledge her surroundings. She was back in her room in the Dragon Master's house. It took a bit before her vision regained focus, so she stared at the ceiling as she slowly regained her vision. Slowly she saw a pair dark brown eyes staring at her.

"So, you're awake." Fanli stated. He had been sitting by her side the whole time she was out, but he wasn't going to admit it anytime soon.

"Ye- Yes... how long have I been asleep for?"

"Two days."

"EXCUSE ME!?"

"Not enough for you?"

"Two days??"

"You used up a lot of magic in our duel. Hell, you're lucky to be alive by pushing your limits so far. Summoning that phoenix twice in three days must be a killer."

"I am strong enough."

"...what are you trying to prove?" Fanli murmured quietly, looking at her scrutinizingly.

"Huh?" Xiahua swallowed, wishing the Demon Master wasn't looking at her in such a fierce way.

"Don't act innocent. Why do you have her weapon? Why are you trying to kill me if you know I am many times more powerful than you are? You're trying to prove yourself."

"Are you done interrogating me? It's not like I have more secrets than you do, Meng Yan. What's with the new name?"

"I moved on from the past, so should you. All of this isn't really even YOUR business. It's Xiahua's."

"How dare you! What do you mean? You-"

"Killing me won't bring her back. In fact, killing me will wipe out her last bit of existence in this dimension. This is NOT even your business anyways."

"I-"

"Get your rest. Training resumes tomorrow. The demons aren't going to be waiting around."

Fanli left the room, leaving Xiahua in her silence. _He isn't evil or cruel... then... why?_

"Mia!" A little girl ran up to her slightly older sister. "You're back!"

"Hey meimei (little sister), how's life among the Lin clan?"

"Sooo boring without you jiejie! (big sister)"

"Don't worry, in a few months, you will begin your training, just like jiejie!"

"It's not fair, you are only a year older than me! Why can't I start now and travel with you?"

"Patience young flower. Your time will come."

"Don't call me young! How long are you staying?"

"Not long, I need to return to the Meng clan."

"To your _boyfriend_?"

"Hey! You're too young to discuss such things?"

Xiauhua started laughing and running, taunting Mia. "Sister has a boyfriend, sister has a boyfriend!"

"Come back here!" Mia chased after her sister. That was the last time Xiahua ever saw her...

**A year later**

"What happened here?" Xiahua arrived horseback to a demolished village, what once was the great home of the Clan of Dreams, was now a graveyard. Xiahua's heart dropped to her stomach as it dawned to her. _No, no... NO!_ She leaped off her horse and ran to the graves.

"Mia? MIA??" She ran through the maze of the dead, searching frantically. _Please don't be here, please..._ She stopped at a gray tombstone, and let out a scream of misery and despair.

**Here lies Lin Mia.****  
****  
A friend, a loved one... a savior.****  
****  
The light of my life, who will always live on in me.****  
**  
_It can't be true... but..._ A golden bow laid on top of the tombstone. _No... sister's treasured weapon, the Lin clan Bow of Dragons..._ She made a move towards the weapon, and it flew into her hand. She yelped in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. _Sister... This bow has chosen me... to avenge your death!_

The nightmares still haunted her, the tombstone of her beloved sister... the pain she felt. She thought she finally understood her purpose in life. Fate wanted Xiahua to avenge her sister, her life's meaning, to kill that monster... But now? _What am I going to do now?_

_Only two weeks left until Christmas, will she like my gift?_ Syaoran stared at the beautiful platinum necklace he made. It was created by pure dragon magic, the best metal from Blade, and incredible amounts of protection spells surrounded it. It can never be stolen, the wearer will always be protected by a powerful barrier, it can be used as a power source and much more. He invested weeks of his time and nearly killed himself with the project. To top it off, there was a beautiful stone embed into the platinum. It shined in the light of the day, and at night, it illuminates the room. _A dragonstone... it has two uses, a stone of great power and beauty... and..._

"SYAORAN! Help me with the compass again!" Meilin yelled from across the yard. Syaoran sighed as he concealed the necklace. He can still feel the power of the stars tingling in his hand.

"OK, focus your energy on the compass...

"Imperial king of gods, Your divinity watches over the four corners Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, Thunder, wind, lightning, Whirling blade of light, I summon thee!" Blue light emitted from the lazin board, "Seek out dark forces!"

To everyone's surprise, the compass did not point at Fanli. Instead a pointed to somewhere in the city... "I think it is pointing to Tsukimine Shrine" Eriol commented. Everybody groaned in response.

_Crap! Not there!_

"What should we do Syaoran?" Sakura asked the "leader" of their merry band.

"We will investigate it tomorrow. Charging in blindly would be idiotic. We used up a lot of energy training today. Tomorrow." Li ordered. "Brace yourselves, we always have trouble there."

"I can't find this dang thing! I know it is around, but I can't locate it!" 4 AM, and everyone was scattered all over the shrine, investigating the new dark aura there. It was a tricky one since no one could seem to detect or sense it. _It's like when Xiahua was stalking me._

Fanli hated it when he can't find something. "This is like deja vu!"

"What, still pissed that you couldn't find me last time?" Xiahua approached her sworn enemy, with a smirk on her face. "Despicable, a master of dark magic and you can't find one thing?"

"Shut up."

"I don't see what she saw in you..."

"Syaoran, how are you doing over there?"

"Dang it, Meilin, use the compass and seek out that presence again!" Syaoran yelled to his cousin, irritated by how he can't track this strange force.

"Hai! Imperial king of gods, Your divinity watches over the four corners. Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, Thunder, wind, lightning, Whirling blade of light, I summon thee! Seek this dark force!" A flash of light. "This way!"

"Regroup and follow Meilin!"

Like a swarm, everybody came running from all over the shrine, regrouping in front of an old tree.

"What? This tree again?" Sakura yelled out. Too many things happened at this tree back during the Cardcaptoring days. The Return... the talks with Syaoran... it is enough of this tree for one lifetime.

"Looks like there is so magic left in it." Yue commented. He was amused that this tree contained so much power of the moon, yet... why couldn't he identify it? It is different yet the same. This tree is quite interesting.

"Why is there so much dark energy emitting from it?" Fanli wondered out loud. It doesn't feel like a demon, yet... something was familiar about the aura...

"Is this it?" Xiahua was looking forward to some demon killing, and exhibiting her disappointment. "Stupid tree!" She gave the tree a big kick. A surge of power exploded from the tree, giving a certain dark magic user chills down his spine.

"Everyone get away from the tree now!" Fanli screamed.

"What?" The order came too late. The tree gave a shudder, and a dimensional portal opened.

"Idiots! Get out of there!" A giant gust of wind formed a vortex, grabbing a few members of the team into it. "Oh shi-"

"Well look what the cat dragged in." Fanli gave a quick shudder and checked his surroundings. Touya, Yue, Kero, Spinel, and Ruby Moon were still here. That meant Syaoran and the rest got sucked in. "Eclipse! Show yourself!"

"What's your rush?" A man in white robes appeared. He had white hair, and was very pale, he would camouflage in the snow if he didn't have black stripes on his clothes and hair.

"I want my friends back, and if I have to cut you down to get to them, so be it."

"I think your friends will be the least of your worries. The power of the moon is strong tonight, I am unaffected by these so called 'happy emotions'." Eclipse gave a loud chuckle as a dark light wave surrounded him. When it vanished, a tiger took Eclipse's place.

Fanli gave a smirk, and nodded to remaining team members as they prepared themselves for a fight. "Here kitty kitty."

"Meilin? Tomoyo?" Sakura yelled in the darkness. Syaoran was right next to her, yelling his lungs out.

"Hello? Anybody?... Great, where the HELL are we?"

"Imperial king of gods, Your divinity watches over the four corners Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, Thunder, wind, lightning, Whirling blade of light, I summon thee! Find Syaoran!" The compass temporarily shot out a light, but it went berserk, pointing at every direction at once. "Dang, too much interference."

"Well duh, this place reeks of evil." Xiahua said condescendingly. _Why do I have to be trapped with this weakling?_

Meilin stared in the dark, casting a fire ofuda for light. _Why do I have to be trapped with this idiot?_

"Touya! Move!" Touya moved out of the way just in time as Eclipse teleported right behind him. Eclipse gave a mighty roar, shaking the ground and trees, and dived at Fanli. Yue aimed his bow and fired a shot at the beast, but the arrow couldn't pierce its skin. Fanli did a backflip, dodging the blow, and retaliated. "Demon Fire Storm!" A tornado of flames snared the tiger, trapping the beast with spiraling flames, but it didn't last long. Eclipse quickly broke out of its firey prison, and made a move to attack Fanli again. He managed to evade the tackle, but Eclipse followed the first attack with a barrage of white orbs of light that exploded at contact, sending Fanli flying. He did a flip, and landed on the ground facing the tiger, sword ready. Touya and the guardians landed behind him, unable to damage the beast. They needed a plan.

"Kero! Spinel! Get behind him! Ruby and Yue, hit him from the sides. NOW! Touya, we're going head on!"

The four guardians flew in the air, surrounding Eclipse, while the two boys charged in at the demon.

Syaoran held out an orb of light (courtesy of Origin) as the pair walked through the labyrinth. The walls were stone, and had carvings of some ancient language on them. _I have a bad feeling about this... it feels like a demon..._

"Syaoran?" Sakura's voice was filled with nervousness and fear. All her childhood fears of ghosts were flowing in her mind.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I will protect you. I won't let anything get to you. Dark forces, ghosts, demons, anything... okay?" Syaoran gazed at his terrified angel. She looked as if she was going to cry, but finally managed to smile. He was about to smile back when he heard two loud screams in the darkness.

"Meilin?? Xiahua?"

"What the hell are these things?" Xiahua fired an arrow through a head of a dark figure. It groaned but still trudged forward towards the girl. Dozens followed. "Multiply!" Another arrow was fired, which split and became twenty. They pierced and went through the masses of dark forces, but they kept approaching them.

"Haven't you watched horror movies before? Those are ZOMBIES!" Meilin drew out her sword and two ofudas. "Raitei, Kashin, SHOURAI!" Arcs of lightening and bursts of fire slammed into the heaps of undead, blasting a few of them into pieces. The zombies kept moving forward. "Fuuka Shourai!" A blade of wind sliced a few zombies in half as Xiahua kept firing her arrows. The zombies were unfazed, and dragged their bodies towards the two girls. The pair kept backing up, attacking as the moved, until they heard moans behind them.

"S we're _surrounded_!" Xiahua spun her bow and sliced a few heads off. She winced as she smell the pungent odor of dead guts and as blood and body parts covered the ground.

"I REALIZED THAT! Kashin shourai!" A wall of flames formed to cut off the pursuing zombies.

"Good job, now WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT THESE GUYS!"

"One thing at a time!"

"Dracoshield! Stop these monsters from pursuing us!" A wall of light appeared in front Tomoyo as an army of undead as they collided into the aura of light.

"Power of the sun, show these creatures of the dark your light!" Eriol sent a wave of light out from his staff, it passed through the zombies and they quickly disintegrated."Good job Tomoyo, let's keep moving, we can't be the only ones trapped here."

"Wow, the freak for once is right." Syaoran and Sakura approached their two friends. "Meilin and Xiahua are here too. Not sure if they are the only ones, but we should find them first."

"That sounds like a logical plan." Syaoran turned to face Sakura and Tomoyo.

"Of course, I will be point, Eriol you take rear. You two stay between us. If either of us gets into trouble, call the other and go help. Got it?" The two girls nodded. "OK let's move. And don't panic."

The pack moved through hallway after hallway, each as dark as the previous. _Dang, I can't sense anything. I can't even sense if there is a demon at work! There is a powerful... ? That's it! There are two demons, maybe more, at work... but which?_

"This is the Pyramid of Earth." Eriol muttered. "Amazing."

"Come again?" Sakura asked, her face filled with confusion.

"This is Quake's Pyramid of Earth. I knew I saw those runes before! Built by the Demon Lord of Earth, this pyramid is a death trap for treasure hunters. No one knows exactly what is hidden here, but it is supposed to be something all humans crave. Each engraving is the tale of each person who journeyed in here."

_Well, that eliminates one of the demons, the other must be..._ Syaoran heard a loud thump and turned to see that Sakura tripped.

"Hehe... stupid clumsy me. Can't see in this dark."

_As innocent as always Ying Fa... wait... can it really be that simple?_

"The Demon Lord of Darkness and Demon Lord of Earth... what are they again?"

"Rayearth, I call upon thee, come forth in your wolf form!" The blazing wolf materialized in front of his master, howling at the tiger.

"Rayearth, it has been a while." The wolf glared and growled at Eclipse before rushing the demon, leaving a trail of flames behind him. Eclipse roared and charged, and the two beasts collided at full force. They clashed as they attacked with magic and fangs, neither giving their opponent the edge. Lucky for Fanli, Eclipse was quite distracted with Rayearth, so Eclipse was caught by surprise when he was hit dead on by an orb of dark magic. Eclipse roared in pain as the darkness tried to consume him, but he managed to break free, but was severely weakened in the process.

"Time to bind you to my side." Eclipse was pissed, as he gave one last mighty roar, and ran, vanishing in the dark. Fanli swore and set a barrier around the area. No way is Eclipse going to escape him. "Time to catch the kitty cat. Split up and tell me if you find him! We need his power to reopen the portal for the rest of the guys!"

_There's too many of them!_ Meilin arms were sore from cutting down zombies. _How long have we been fighting? An hour? A day?_

"MEILIN SNAP OUT OF IT!" Xiahua was already in a state of panic. The zombies just kept coming, the air now reeked of blood, making it hard to breath. The ground was slippery from the body parts and blood, and the wall of fire was starting to collapse. _We are going to die, we are so screwed..._

"Origin! Shine your light!" A flash of white light, followed by the howls and moans of zombies, then nothing.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: The song in this chapter is called Life Returns from Fire Emblem. it is translated from a fictional language, and you should really hear it. Go Youtube it. Now. Rest of AN comes in the end.

**Dark Fate ch 15**

"It's about time!" Meilin took a gasp of air, and immediately regretted it. The air tasted of blood and gore, making her want to puke. The pungent odor was unbearable. The walls and ground were covered with the remains of the undead. The remnants of the messy battle drew attention, when more moans and groans echoed down the hallways.

"Come on, let's find somewhere secure. It'll be a matter of time before those zombies find us again." Syaoran took the lead down another dark pathway. He sent a few orbs of light to scout ahead, ensuring the paths were clear of undead. "It's only a matter of time before we find an escape route. We better limit the light and the sounds we make. Last thing we want is more attention. These zombies are weak individually, but in a swarm, we might have difficulties. The less direct interaction with any of them, the better. Fanli better be doing something to help..."

"There! Don't lose him!" Kero and Spinel Sun took flight in pursuit of the Moon demon, while Yue and Ruby Moon attempted to cut him off. Eclipse was very clever, and was quite a hard cat to catch despite being trapped in the shrine. He managed to avoid any traps they set, and always escaped when they cornered him. Just when they finally thought he was trapped, Eclipse seemed to vanish in thin air.

"Argh, we lost him again! Split up, and attack!" Fanli barked out his commands, and scanned the area with his Demon Eyes. The shrine was home to a lot of magic, which distorted his magical vision. _Dang it. This is taking too long._

The six troops scattered through out the shrine, moving quickly but was careful to not miss anything. They had to catch this demon if they want to bring back Sakura and the rest. They were worried about what possible nightmare Eclipse sent them in. There's a lot of hiding places within the shrine, too much cover and plants. It's not going to be easy, but then again, none of their missions ever were.

Touya carefully wandered through the shrine, sword ready, scanning his surroundings_. Where is this bastard? Dang it, Sakura is stuck with that brat somewhere! She's in danger!_

Eclipse was hiding in some bushes when he saw a boy was walking towards hiding spot. He was about to flee again until he realized that the boy wasn't Fanli, but a weaker warrior. _A fresh prey!_ He waited until the boy was a few feet closer, than pounced.

_Turn around!_

"Mother?" Touya swung around when he heard his mother's voice, just to see Eclipse diving towards him. "God da-" He swung his sword to counter, but Eclipse's attack was too powerful, too fast. Touya was knocked back and slammed into a nearby tree, and felt his sword shatter. Eclipse's claws managed to cut Touya's right arm, blood was oozing out and dripping on the ground. He was about to black out when he saw a bright light. _Mother?_...

"Touya!" Yue saw his best friend crash against a tree, and that Eclipse ready to consume his prey. He threw a barrage of crystals, but they bounced of uselessly. _His moon magic is too strong!_ Yue pulled his bow and fired arrow after arrow, and watched as each one was blocked by a barrier. Though usually calm and sharp, Yue was panicking. this demon was stronger than Yue in his own domain, and Yue is now helpless to stop Eclipse.

A blinding white light pierced the dark forest, blinding Yue and Eclipse. The rest of the group finally arrived to Touya's side, attracted by the noise and light, and saw a beautiful woman appeared in front of Touya, her wings were snow white and spread out gracefully. Nadeshiko Kinomoto had appeared before them, and was brimming with light magic. Everyone held their breath, wondering what she's planning. Eclipse eyed the angel wearily, unsure of himself. After a minute of this stand off, she clasped her hands into a prayer, and hummed a melody. Magic erupted out with her voice. Though no one of the living knows the language of angels, everyone their understood her sad song, and can feel the peaceful magic flowing through the air.

_Endless grief and sorrow_  
_Hearts slumbering again_  
_Stars frozen in their place_  
_Darkness envelopes the land_

Eclipse roared in pain, his head felt as if it's going to explode. Pain blasted through his body as the darkness in him was being ripped out.

_But in the spilling of blood_  
_A hope still glimmers dim_

_In a reflection on the water_  
_In a whisper in the wind_

The pain stopped, but Eclipse lost all feeling in his body. All he could do was sit there and stare at the beautiful angel, and listen to her sad song.

_Gather your courage_  
_It will break the bonds of night_  
_Take wing, and dance upon the sky_  
_Take wing, and dance upon the sky_

Eclipse stared at the angel as she finished her son, allowing the echo of beautiful music fill his mind and soul. It felt as if a haze in his mind was cleared, a fog was removed. He could think clearly again. He gave a mighty roar when the song ended, and put his head down. Ragnarok's control over him was gone.

Nadeshiko Kinomoto towards her drifted to her son, giving him a kiss on his forehead. She waved her hand over his injured arm, healing the bloody wound. Only a long scar remained of the cut. _Protect your sister... but remember to protect yourself too._ Then she faded away, as if she was never there. Echoes of the song vibrated throughout the shrine.

"That... sounds familiar... Wonder how that happened..." Fanli pondered.

"The Galdr of Life. A song of the angels." Eclipse's dark aura was diminished, and was returned back to his sane and tame self. "Angels sing it in their free will, but it is unheard of for a mortal human to summon an angel to sing the song. Takes a great amount of determination and love..." Eclipse stared at this unconscious boy. _I didn't detect any sense of strong magic in this boy. The Seeker of the Dead? Interesting. I need to keep an eye on him too._

"Now that we are done here... we have to save the rest... Eclipse?"

"Oh, yeah... er... Sorry about the trouble." Eclipse muttered, ashamed of how corrupted his mind was. Ragnarok was going to pay, forcing him to betray his true master.

"Don't worry about it."

"Just seal me already. You have Ultima and Quake to deal with too."

"Great, two more strong ones. I Fanli, bind Eclipse Tiger of the Moon under contract."

_Another demon down, seven left. Now to save Syaoran and his gang and get the other two demons._ Touya began to stir and picked himself up from the ground. Yue help support him, and "Eclipse, generate a portal! Take me to where Syaoran and the rest are!" The vortex reappeared, creating a portal from the shrine to the unknown. Fanli turned to the rest of the team. "Who's with me?"

A silhouette made a turn around a corner, and scanned the hallways. He made a hand gesture, and five other shadows moved in the dark hallways of the Quake's Temple. There was no source of light, yet the six figures could see perfectly. They had practiced night vision spells like this before, but never for a long period of time. They can only see a short distance, so Syaoran took point, scanning each hallway for signs of dark magic or undead using his Dragon Eyes. He made a gesture, signaling the rest of the group to follow. Another clear hallway They had to be quiet and stealthy. No sounds, no light. Sakura even casted The Silent to muffled any sounds they make, but they couldn't take the chance of getting caught. Being detected means an onslaught of zombies. Syaoran peeked around another corner, and raised his hand, motioning the group to stop. A pair of zombies were up ahead, patrolling the dark pathways. Another hand signal, and Xiahua moved forward. She drew her bow, and aimed. Two shots, two kills. Light thumps were heard as the two corpses collapsed against the ground. Syaoran did one last scan, and moved forward once more. After a few feet, Syaoran stopped again. _A presence. In this room._ He signaled the group to follow as he entered a strange circular room. There were four bridges and four entrances to the room, all leading to the center of the room. A dark abyss surrounded it, an eerie presence. The group proceeded towards the center, moving slowly, wary of a possible trap.

"What is this room?" Sakura whispered into the dark. There was a dark power there, emitting from the walls.

_Idiot.__  
__  
What now?__  
__  
You see that circle in the very center of the room? Stand on it.__  
__  
What if it is a trap?__  
__  
I am your guardian! What kind of guardian will I be if I tell you to stand on a trap?__  
__  
OK, OK jeez! That one over there?__  
__  
ARE YOU STUPID, BLIND OR...?__  
__  
Jeez, just kidding. Dragons have no sense of humor.__  
__  
You're the one to talk, moron. You are the one who beat up a guy just becausee-__  
__  
OK!__  
_  
Syaoran took a deep breath as he slowly walked towards the very center of the room. When he was a step away, he hesitated.

_Are you sure..._

_JUST DO IT!_

He took another deep breath as he stepped into the circle. The room exploded with light, blinding the inhabitants of the room, and glowing symbols and diagrams appeared on the room.

"What the hell?" Meilin cussed loudly. "Warn us when you are going to try something Syaoran!"

"What is all of this anyways?" Xiahua wondered out loud.

"It is a map of the maze." Eriol pointed out. "We are at the very center right now, and judging by this... the very end will be... right below us? But there is no other pathways!"

"Then this room must be a lift or something. Or we have to jump down..." Sakura looked over the edge, but could see nothing in the dark abyss.

"Let's hope not... hey, what's that." Tomoyo pointed to a heap of rubble at the side of the room. It went unnoticed before when they were too busy trying to figure out the room, but now the entire group was aware of it.

"It's a skeleton. Another treasure hunter." Xiahua stated. "Remember, there is supposed to be a great treasure here."

"But there isn't that much dust on it, or any dirt. Plus... it seems to be eroded by dark magic. Considering we saw no other skeletons on the way here, this must be a recent one." Eriol pondered. _Why is this skeleton so familiar... wait... oh no..._ Eriol turned to see Syaoran also turned pale. He, too recognized the body. Though neither boy knows this person very well, a certain someone will be traumatized. One whose heart is already unstable.

"We need to get out of here." Syaoran's words came out uncomfortably, grabbing Sakura away from the corpse. Sakura still stared at the body, fighting against Syaoran and Eriol as they tried to drag her away. After a few minutes of this, she began to cry.

"NO! NO... NO!" Sakura cried her heart out. "Otou-san! _Otoouuu-saaaan!_"

Moans echoed through out the entrances. The shout has drawn attention to them once again.

"They're back!" Xiahua yelled, but her words were drowned out by the cries of Sakura.

_Ah, sweet sweet pain... Cry it all out poor Cherry Blossom. So much pain in one lifetime. Well life is cruel, not as cruel as me of course... Give me your sorrow, give me your soul._

"Raitei Shourai!" Meilin sent a storm of lightening bolts crashing on one of the bridges, decimating a handful of zombies. She rushed forward towards the entrance and stabbed a zombie, then spun and slice its head off. One grabbed her foot, and held on tight as she struggled to get it off. She thrust her sword in its face, and casted another spell. "Suiryu Shourai!" A gush of water slammed into the onslaught, pushing them back a few feet. Meilin leaped back to the center of the room, and drew another ofuda. "Kashin shourai!" Flames blasted out of the ofuda, torching anything that was in the blast range. Despite Meilin's efforts, the army of undead kept pushing towards the center.

"Dang it, why is there so many of them?" Xiahua spun her weapon, slicing a zombie's head off, and fired an arrow towards the roof. "Arrow Rain!" The arrow split into dozens, and rained upon the dark monsters. The zombies collapsed quickly as each arrow pierced their skulls, but there was just too many. "Lightening Arrow!" Xiahua shot an arrow, which exploded with electricity. More moans came from the wave of undead, but they didn't stop approaching.

Eriol casted barrage of light energy and fireballs at the swarm from on another bridge, and managed to keep them from crossing. Tomoyo summoned a barrier blocking off the final bridge. Syaoran ran to Sakura, hugging her closely to him. "Come on Sakura, we need to deal with the problem right now!" There was no response from her, only tears. "Sakura, I'm sorry, but your father won't want you to die here too. You have to be strong."

"Leave me alone!"

"Sakura..." Syaoran sighed, and continued to hold onto her. He kept an eye on the four battles around him. Eriol and Tomoyo was doing fine, but Xiahua and Meilin were in a little trouble.

"Holy crap, they're everywhere!" Meilin screamed as a few undead grabbed her arms and legs. Syaoran swore and drew his sword.

"Origin, shine your light!" Syaoran raised his sword, which sent out waves of light to all directions, which dissolved zombies as they passed through the army of undead. It was a powerful spell, but every time one zombie fell, dozens seem to take its place. "They won't stop coming! Sakura, come on, we have to get out of here!" The poor girl was still crying and holding what was her father. "Sakura!"

"Why.. Why?"

"Sakura come on! It's too dangerous here! Come on..."

"No.. no... just leave me alone..."'

"THEY ARE ALMOST ACROSS THE BRIDGES!" Xiahua screamed at the top of her lungs. Syaoran turned to see that the archer was desperately firing arrows and casting spells to demolish the zombies. "Fire Arrow Rain!" A rain of flaming arrows plummeted on the zombies , burning rotten flesh and darkness from the undead.

"Ramuh, blast these nuisances away!"

Arcs of lightening struck the bridges, obliterating anything they made contact with. The problem was that there was just too many of them. Even Syaoran couldn't handle this many at once.

"Screw this, twelve dragons of the realm, I summon thee, unite and create the portal, come forth, Li clan dragon, TIAN!"

A flash of light, and a majestic dragon appeared, sending out streams of light at the waves of undead. Moans and howls came from the monstrosities as they dissolved into the light. Tian vanished, and Syaoran collapsed on the ground, drained. They are all gone, finally they are all... More moans and groans, louder, angrier. Syaoran felt a stampede as zombies ran towards them, at inhumane speed. Xiahua swore when she saw the reinforcements, she quickly pulled an arrow and fired at the leading zombie, but to her surprise, it dodged it. The stampede rushed towards the center, more and more came swarming into the room. Syaoran was weakened from summoning Tian, _S, these zombies are stronger and faster!_

Meilin screamed as a zombie bit her arm, she quickly retaliated and slice its head off, but another one threw a powerful punch into her stomach. She flew across the bridge, back into the center. Syaoran drew what was left in his power, sending healing spells throughout the room. They were definitely in deep trouble. They had to get out of there.

"Sakura! We need to get out of here!"

"Leave me alone..."

Ragnarok watched the battle, laughing as the defenders attempted to fight off Ultima's army of undead creatures.

_You think you can win? That you can survive? This is just round two, there is more to come! Your great Dragon Master used up his energy, and will take a good ten minutes to recover. Unfortunately, you fools don't have that long. But... Clow's reincarnation is being a pain... better deal with him first. Ultima, looks like you are going to get a little help after all... You will be mine Card Mistress. You, the Cards, and the Power of the Stars._

"SYAORAN! WE'RE IN DEEP-" Eriol was cut off as a wave of dark energy blasted him onto the bridge. _Where the hell did that come from??_ He struggled to get back to his feet, but the dark energy dazed him. He heard a groan, and saw as zombies were rushing towards him. "Son of a-" He blasted them with fire, frying the lead zombies, but he failed to notice that some were crawling under the bridge and leaping towards him. They swarmed over him, his screams muffled by the mass of corpses.

"ERIOL!" Tomoyo screamed, the lapse of concentration demolished her barrier, but it didn't matter to her. She sprinted towards the sorcerer, trying to get the zombies off of him. She fought and struggled, but failed. More and more zombies filled the room, rushing and hungry for blood. Moans and screams echoed in the room, but the melancholy cries of pain rang the loudest out of them all. _It's all over..._ Screams in the dark. There was nothing but screams.

The End...?

* * *

Rest of AN: Yes, I killed of Fujitaka Kinomoto. I'm planning to kill off a lot. The Demons are not honorable, they fight dirty. Now, about the "The End...?", I might not be able to update for a while. MIGHT. As in I could not update for a month, the whole summer, or everything will be nice and normal and I will update next Sat. I'm not ending the story here, no way in hell, too many loyal reviewers lol. (What? 4 isn't much? Well it is for me.) Problem is that my beta and I are busy with summer crap. So yea... Thanks to **AngelEmCuti** and **Fiasse** for reviewing last chapter... and anyone notice that original stories don't stand out compared to most stories that are cliched? Not saying none of the original stories are good, but most of the highly reviewed stories I read are pretty much cliched... Not insulting anyone here! Just a comment.


	16. Of Earth and Darkness

AN: Hark, I'm back! I actually found the time! But my beta couldn't! So that might be problematic! Many little hints and questions are brought up over the last few chapters... they'll all be answered next week! I promise to update next week! After that, not sure! Thanks for always reviewing AngelEmCuti (whose stories I'm still waiting for to be updated) and my very busy beta yuuwatase719. Warning, the next arc will seem very rushed. Very rushed. But, it's supposed to go by fast. So... enough of my ramblings, you want to know what happened!

**Dark Fate ch 16 - Of Earth and Darkness **(That's right, I'm starting to name the chapters)

* * *

"Eriol! Tomoyo! Sh-"

A deafening roar broke the echoing clamor of chaos and bloodshed. A portal materialized in the center of the room, identical to the one that got the gang in this death trap in the first place. A white tiger leaped out of it, and dived towards the swarm surrounding Eriol and Tomoyo. With its mighty claws, the tiger ripped apart the group of undead. The zombies were faster, but not fast enough to stop the mighty demon lord of the moon. Eclipse gave a mighty roar as he tore down thousands of the monstrosities. The pile of undead cleared, showing Eriol clutching an unconscious Tomoyo, using his sun staff to support himself and establish a weak barrier around him. He struggled to stay standing after fighting for his and Tomoyo's lives, battered and bruised.

"The calvary has arrived!" Fanli and Touya leaped through the portal, sending blasts of energy at random directions.

"SAKURA!" Touya ran straight to his unconscious sister, while Fanli took a good look around the room. _This is Ultima's work..._ "Rayearth, Demon Wolf of Hell. Kraken, Demon Shark of the Dark Seas. Tempest, Demoness Hawk of the Sky. Volt, Serpent of Lightening. Come forth!" Four orbs of light surrounded him, and four animals appeared. Rayearth gave a mighty howl, and the four demons leaped to the aid of Meilin and Xiahua, along with the bridge Tomoyo was guarding. Rayearth formed a fire wall in one of the doorways, while Volt sent a barrage of lightening bolts at another bridge. Kraken sent streams of water pulses, knocking every zombie off the bridge. Tempest grabbed Meilin and Xiahua and dumped them on her back, and flew high up to safer location. Xiahua and Meilin began casting spells from a range to support the rest.

Four more figures flew out of the portal, joining the fight. Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun flew to the aid of their master, while Yue and Kerberos did the same.

"Jeez Eriol, looks like you got your butt kicked." Spinel Sun landed next to Eriol, sending a burst of flames from his mouth towards the zombies pouring through the entrance, as Ruby Moon sent a barrage of crystals to finish them off.

"Now isn't the time Suppi." Eriol pushed himself up with his staff, and kept his attention on Tomoyo. He was exhausted and agitated, but he refused to let her go.

"Awww, are you hugging poor Tomoyo? Is this lov-?" Ruby Moon's eyes glinted with entertainment and humor.

"I said this isn't the time!"

* * *

"Sakura!" The Card Mistress's two guardians flew by her side. "Sakura! Are you OK?"

Sakura was in a pitiful state, her eyes were red from crying, her body weak and fragile from the shock of her father's death. Touya picked up his sister and held her in his arms, "What happened here?..." Yue and Keroberos followed Syaoran's eyes to the corpse. "Oh..."

"We need to get her out of here. There's too many of these monsters." Syaoran glanced around the surrounding battles. Fanli had summon Demon Lords to fight on the four bridges, but they couldn't hold out forever. "FANLI! GET A PORTAL UP!"

"Can't! Eclipse is too busy keeping us alive!" Fanli yelled back as he dodged a zombie trying to bite his arm off. He spun and slashed that zombie's head off, and rushed into the swarm. He swung his blade, "Hei feng, Hei dian, demonic barrage!" A gust of wind blasted out, followed by an arc of electricity. Demons roared as energy blasted through them. The moment those zombies fell, more zombies appeared through the doorway.

"Dian long zhao lai!" Syaoran finally rejoined the battle. Lightening blasted out of his sword as he swung it, sending out the powerful dragon magic at the approaching nightmares. He focused his magic at another bridge, which Rayearth was starting to have trouble holding the bridge. "Huo long, feng long, zhao lai!" A flaming tornado slammed into the bridge, burning every zombie that was sucked into the vacuum. With another flick of his sword, Syaoran used the flames to form a wall, blocking an entrance. Unfortunately, the spell took too much of his attention, so he was unable to react fast enough when a zombie grabbed on to him. Syaoran swore as he thrust his blade into the zombie's chest. The zombie moaned, and threw Syaoran off the side and into the wall.

"Argh!" Syaoran felt his left arm break as he collided into the wall awkwardly, and accidentally dropped his sword. But he couldn't complain. Had he reacted too slow, he could have taken even more serious injuries. He kicked off the wall and landed back onto safety. Using his good arm, he conjured Origin's healing magic to heal his arm. "Slyph! Retrieve my sword!" With a gust of wind, his sword came flying back, and landing comfortably back into his hands, right where it belonged.

Fanli was being pushed back by the swarm of zombies on his bridge. _There's too many!_ He swore, and raised his palm. "Demonic Explosion!" The room shuttered as one of the bridges exploded into dust, taking dozens of zombies with it. A spark of inspiration entered Fanli's mind.

"I am going to destroy the bridges! Cut them off! Demon Void!" Orbs of dark energy slammed into two more bridges, consuming the stone pathways into darkness. The room began to shake even more.

_Why is the floor shaking?_ Syaoran glanced over the bridge and groaned. There was nothing supporting the central platform... except for the bridges. "Fanli! Don't des-" Too late. Another blast of dark energy nailed the last bridge. Syaoran swore "Feng long, zhao lai!" The last bridge vanished and everything... dropped. The platform began to plummet down the endless chasm.

"Holy crap! Tempest, heeeeeelp!" The wind dragon and demon combined forces, forming a large barrier of wind, slowing their fall.

"Whew... nice and easy now..." Fanli gasped as he slowly felt his heart began to beat again.

"Fanli you idiot!" Xiahua screamed with what little oxygen she had left in her lungs.

"Sorry!"

"You almost got us killed!"

"Almost. That is very significant between life and death."

"Oh shut up! Open a portal already and get us out!"

"I tried as we were falling! Something's stopping me! There must be a source of powerful dark magic nearby."

"WHAT? ARE WE _STUCK_ HERE?"

"Of course not! We just need to either eliminate the source, or get farther away from it."

"Yeah, like any of that is going to happen soon."

The platform shuddered as it collided with the bottom of the room. Syaoran leaped off the chunk of rock and sat down on the floor. He looked up, checking how far they fell. _Must have been miles... go gravity._ Syaoran watched as Xiahua and Meilin yell at Fanli for his idiocy and rashness as they jumped off. He sighed, glad for the temporary break.

Fanli stared at the unconscious Card Mistress. _She just looks like her... well duh, they are related of course..._

--Flashback--

_I remember that one night... a boy and a girl lying on a hill... staring out into the starry skies..._

"Congratulations, Yan."

"Can't believe we're having a kid."

"Me neither, should we decide on a name?"

"Hmm..."

"Well, if it's a boy... how about Fanli? And if it's a girl... how about Yingfa?"

"Cherry blossom?"

"Yea. It's my favorite flower."

"Favorite... flower?... That's... ridiculous?"

"Yea, a fav- YOU DON'T HAVE A FAVORITE FLOWER?"

"Well, we have to change that. You start thinking about what is your favorite, and tell me!" _Her cheery face... that night... How cruel can fate be... I never got told her what my favorite flower was..._ _That terrible day... the aftermath... it was a rainy night... _

"Please... take care of her... she needs a family... I can't provide that. I have a job to do."

"Of course, what is her name?" _I looked into the deep pool of emerald green... I wonder where she got it... How sad to know I will outlive her and her children... maybe her grandchildren... that raven black hair...__  
__  
_"Her name is-"

"FANLI! ARE YOU LISTENING TO US?" Fanli sighed as he listened to the onslaught of words provided by Xiahua and Meilin. _I'll never forget..._

"Syaoran." Eriol sat down next to Syaoran while cleaning his glasses. "According to the map, we should be near the so called treasure. The map said to go down... I guess this was one way to get to the final destination." He rolled his eyes are Fanli, who was still defending himself against the two girls. Eriol scanned the room, checking for everyone. Dozens of zombies that fell of were scattered all around the room, decaying in their own darkness. The guardians were tending to Sakura, Eriol was still holding Tomoyo, Meilin and Xiahua are still yelling at Fanli... and Syaoran is right there.

But...

"Hey, where did Touya go?

* * *

_Why the hell did I leave the room for?_ Touya was wandering the dark hallway. When they crashed landed, he caught a glimpse of his father entering this hallway. Now, he was nowhere in sight. _Stupid, stupid stupid... Screw this._ He was about to turn and head back when he caught another glimpse of his father, beckoning him to continue. _Sigh... guess I'll keep going.__  
__  
_He pushed on through the dark hall, until he saw an entrance to another room at the end. He hesitated before crossing. His father's presence was on the other side, but he sensed danger. Should he cross alone? Or go back and get some backup? If it's a trap, then he could be leading the group to their deaths, but if it's the way out... The chance for escape outweighs the risk. He spun around and began sprinting back.

* * *

"Guys! I think I found a way out!" Touya came bursting into the room, gasping for air. "Come on, this way!"

Touya ran back into the dark hallway, everybody hesitated at first, but shortly followed. Yue grabbed Sakura and Tomoyo and placed them on Kero's back, and they pursued the rest of the group.

* * *

"Here!" Everyone followed Touya into another room, with the walls filled with inscriptions. In the center of the room was a staircase, and a platform on top. In the center of the platform, was a large battleaxe. It had a long silver handle, with a blood red head. Fanli made a move to approach it, but was stopped by a barrier.

"Hey, there's no exit here!" Meilin yelled out impatiently. She was sick of the dark labyrinth.

"No, this is the end. This must be the treasure room... so that..." Fanli pointed at the axe. "Must be the treasure.Yet we can't get passed the barrier to get it. Something must be triggered to lower it..."

"What barrier?" Touya approached the platform, and bypassed the barrier completely, shocking the Demon Master. He was a hundred percent sure that a barrier is there.

"Ah. I get it." Eriol's eyes sparkled, marveling at the design of the barrier. It took a second, then Fanli and Syaoran realized it as well.

"Get what? You guys are giving me a headache!" Xiahua tapped the barrier, bewildered about what the boys were talking about and how Touya so easily walked through what seemed to be an impenetrable barrier.

"The treasure is granted to the one who reached the end, or in this case, the one that reached the end first." Eriol explained to the rest of the confused group. "Since Touya found this room, the treasure is rightfully his. So Touya, grab that axe and let's get the hell out of here. Sakura and Tomoyo needs rest."

Touya warily walked up the staircase, keeping an eye out for traps. Step by step, he inched closer to the axe, until finally, he stood next to the treasure. He was transfixed by the power that was released by the axe.

"Hey Touya! What's taking so long up there!" Fanli's impatient comment snapped Touya back into reality. He grabbed the axe, surprised at how well it suited him and how light it was. He ran back down the stairs, but never took his eyes off the weapon. It seemed familiar to him.

"About time! Hey! That is Dragon Axe! What is that doing down here, in the idiot Quake's temple?"

"Hey! I heard that!" A new voice echoed throughout the room, and the room began to shake. A fissure appeared, and a giant shaped leaped out. Fanli and Syaoran drew their swords, and Touya readied his new axe, as they faced the giant... gopher.

"What the hell is that?! That can't be a demon!"

"It's Barney!" Eriol announced loudly, proud that he actually remembered what that popular children's item was.

"No... that is... Quake the Demon Lord of Earth..." Fanli sighed. _Quake really needs a new look..._

"WHAT?"

"HE'S MORE OF A STUFFED ANIMAL THAN KERO!"

"Don't bring _me_ into this!"

"Hey, are you done insulting me!?" His voice had a American hillbilly accent, kind of making him really sound like those annoying stuffed animals you see in cartoons.

"You sure he's Demon Lord? Not a Demon Lord's pet or something?"

"Hey! Helloooo? Are you listening to me?"

"Seriously, he looks like he belongs in a Disney movie."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Quake's voice boomed in the room, shutting everyone up. "OK, congratulations, you have conquered the Temple of the Great Demon Lord of Earth, Quake, and retrieved the treasure. Normally, I let you go, but since you are on his side." His tone became more threatening with each word. "You will all die here."

Another roar blasted in the room, and a black beast flew in. It had a body of a tiger, with large wings on its sides. It had three heads: a lion, a serpent, and a goat with a tail similar to a scorpion; a chimera.

"Why hello Ultima! How are your creatures of darkness?"

"Irritated that they didn't receive a good meal." Ultima's lion head growled out, all three heads glaring at the group. Syaoran glared back with as much venom. The snake examined Syaoran, and hissed. "Looks like we have some stubborn ones, excellent."

"Well, shall we begin?" Brown aura surrounded Quake, and a creature made of stone replaced the creature.

_A rock golem!?_

_This is definitely not good._ Fanli calculated their odds, and it wasn't pretty. Most of the team exhausted themselves by the zombies. The only ones in any shape to fight is Syaoran and himself.

"Touya, Meilin and Xiahua, don't engage. Focus on protecting yourselves and each other. Same with the guardians. Syaoran, let's get 'em." Syaoran nodded in agreement, and the two boys readied their swords. They yelled out a battle cry, and charged.

* * *

_Looks like the Quake and Ultima has the gang properly occupied. Now to throw in some more damage._

"Mercury, Timber, Quetzalcoatl, Razor." Ragnarok summoned the remaining four Demon Lords in the Demon Realm. "Keep an eye out. I'll be in."

The four shadows vanished, and Ragnarok opening a portal into the human realm. He leaped through, and took a deep breath.

_Hello Hong Kong. Goodbye Li clan._

* * *

"DEMON!" A warning bell rang throughout the Li clan mansion, as dozens of sorcerers and warriors scrambled outside with their weapons. Ragnarok felt the fear, resonating from the supposedly fearless Li clan.

_I'm going to enjoy myself._

A black aura covered Ragnarok's cloaked form, and out came a mighty black dragon, his true, frightening form. Ragnarok was hundreds of feet long, with large black wings, dark scales covering his entire body. His crimson eyes observed the army, who were shivering from their fear. Ragnarok let out a single blast of magic, and the mansion exploded, sending the entire clan into panic. _Tonight, I feast!_ Ragnarok gave a great roar, and flew down upon the warriors. Magic deflected off his scales, and Ragnarok retaliated with another blast of dark magic, and flapped his wings, blowing away many of the troops. He grabbed a young boy who was trying to escape, and hungrily tore the child to pieces. _Ah the taste of innocent blood._

"Demon!" Ragnarok detected a presence of powerful magic from the owner of the voice. _Ah, the Dragon Master's mother._ "You will pay for your crimes, demon. Li Clan, attack!"

* * *

"Gaia, come to my aid, bind Quake!" Vines ripped through the ground and tied up the golem. Quake wailed as it tried to break free. The brown aura reappeared, and the vines went through the golem.

"What the hell?" Syaoran swore as the golem's arm shot out and slammed him into a wall.

"Syaoran! Quake can switch between different forms of Earth! Rock, dirt, sand, you name it! Be careful!" Fanli was occupied with Ultima. Each of the three heads had a different type of breath, and combined with that scorpion stinger, Ultima was quite a formidable foe. The lion breathed flames, the snake spat out toxic acid, while the goat blasted lightening.

"I don't think you're the one to talk about being careful." Syaoran yelled back when a lightening blast narrowly missed Fanli.

"Just pay attention!" Fanli swung his sword at Ultima, but the attack was blocked by it's tail. Fanli used the force of the block to push himself in the air, "Demonic Lunar Rain!" A barrage of celestial energy pounded the demon, but it shrugged it off. "Demonic Taifeng!" A burst of wind, lightening and water collided with the combination of fire, lightening and venom. The two opposing forces exploded at impact, sending out a large shockwave of energy. The room shook with dark energy.

"Feng long, zhao lai!" Syaoran generated the wind at his feet, and pushed himself into the air. He hovered out of the golem's reach, and constantly moved, trying to find a weak spot. _Dang it! It__'s defensive abilities are too strong... none of my dragons can get past it... Unless... No it's too risky._ Quake roared, irritated that he can't reach his prey, slammed the ground. Pillars of earth blasted out of the ground. Syaoran managed to dodge one, but failed to evade a second one. The pillar slammed Syaoran into the roof, pain burning throughout his body.

"Demonic void!" The pillar dissolved in dark energy. "I said WATCH YOURSELF!" Fanli helped Syaoran back to his feet. "Got anymore bright ideas?"

"... Yes... brace yourself."

"What are you going to do?"

"Just get a barrier ready. Just in case anything goes wrong."

"Syaoran..."

"JUST DO IT!" The two demons surrounded the boys, predators playing with their prey. Syaoran fished out a necklace out of his pocket, and felt the power of the stars emitting from it. _Dragonstone... priceless jewels of great magic...and also... dragon eggs..._ "Xing long... ZHAO LAI!" Syaoran threw the gem into the air, and a flash of light blasted out of it. "Star Rain!" Shooting stars materialized and rained on the demons. Ultima and Quake screamed at the touch of the pure magic. "SUPERNOVA!" The necklace exploded with light, the powerful force knocked the two demons out and slammed them into the walls.

"Fanli! Now!"

"I, Fanli, bind Quake, Demon Lord of the Earth, and Ultima, Chimera Lord of Darkness, under contract!" The two demons screamed as they vanished into orbs of lights, and flew into the Demon Master. "Game over. Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

Ragnarok finished off the last of his prey. _Pathetic. I hope the Dragon Master was more fun than his family._ He grinned as he reviewed the screams of the four sisters and mother in his mind. The taste of the sorrow and pain echoed in his mind. The feeling was priceless. _Well Dragon Lord, you'll be returning soon. I can't wait for your sorrow... Let me taste it..._


	17. Christmas Day: Questions Answered

AN: This ends the second arc. (First Arc: Dragon Master Second: Dark Fate - The Beginning Third Arc: Eye of the Storm Fourth Arc: Rain of Blood and Fire ) Arc three is a peaceful and tranquil year of preparations for both sides (but there will still be battles), leading to the real adventure. That's right. This story is still just about halfway. This chapter will be LONG. A lot of info and new concepts that will be applied to the later arcs, so this chapter is important. Hopefully a lot questions from before will be answered here.

I always planned for this story to be entirely original. No way I am going to copy another idea, or mimic another plot. This story was going to be entirely new. That is why in this story, the events of TRC happened in the PAST. Not the same TRC though... Anyways, this is it. The end of Arc 1. Please Review and say what you think. Need to attract new interested readers, so I'll be trying to rewrite the summary...

Thanks to AngelEmCuti and fiasse for reviewing, and of course yuuwatase719 for betaing.

* * *

**Dark Fate ch 17** - Christmas Day: Questions Answered and The First Stone

It was a silent night in Tomoeda. Snowflakes gently fell to the ground as the mark of midnight, a deep, resounding ringing echoed through the frigid night. At the secluded location of Fanli's home, a flash of light disturbed the peaceful tranquility of the night, and twelve figures collapsed onto the ground.

"Sweet home! Sweet normal reality!" Meilin started hugging the ground. "No zombies here! Finally! Sweet normal Earth! Light! Real light! Not magic generated..."

"Ah fresh air!" Xiahua took a deep breath of air, enjoying the chilling and refreshing atmosphere, compared to the musty and old air of the temple. She collapsed on the ground, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Hey Touya! Help me with your sis here! She might catch a cold!"

Everyone was happy that they finally got out of that hell hole, in the exception for Sakura and Tomoyo, who were still unconscious. No more traps, no more undead, no more chilling howls echoing through their ears... well, the list could go on forever. Despite the joyous moment, one member of the group was deep in thought... and pretty pissed. It was time to clear the air, time for everyone to get the whole story. The hidden truth. Fanli turned to face the teenage archer who was lying on the ground due to exhaustion.

"Lin, I demand some answers."

"What?"

"Never mind. Everyone get inside. We need to have another friendly chat. it's time... to explain everything."

* * *

After dumping Sakura and Tomoyo in their beds and securing the barrier, everyone gathered into the living room, where Fanli was waiting impatiently. He was throwing a glare at Xiahua that was more fearful than Syaoran's. She seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Once everyone got comfortable in the room, excluding Xiahua and Fanli, Fanli began to talk.

"OK, time for some history. A long, long time ago, there were many worlds and dimensions. Each one was unique and special in its own ways. There were different types of magic and powers in each one." Everyone listened intently, as this was a new and interesting piece of information to them. "Interdimension travel was typically impossible except for the most powerful, but even then, the sorcerer can only transport oneself. No one else. Only one witch, the Dimensional Witch, named Yuko Ichihara was the only one who can transport other people besides herself. There was peace for many years, so most worlds didn't bother each other. But... it all ended one day. One day, an idiot sorcerer decided to change the balance of the universe. This man was Fong Wei Reed from the Reed clan-" There was a gasp from the listeners. _The Reed Clan?_ "-who wanted to rule all of the dimensions, so he went after a legendary treasure: The Blade of Dimensions, with the ability to cross time and space, but not only that... it has the power to destroy and create new worlds and dimensions. Such power couldn't be trusted by any man, so it was hidden away by an unknown force, whether it is some god or Father Time and Sister Fates themselves. Fong Wei Reed began the conquest, using his Book of Dark Forces to rally the aid of the dark forces. By some unnatural means, he claimed the ability to cross dimensions with his dark forces, and thus began the Dark Dimension War. How did he gain this power? That is a blank spot in history. I searched for years for the source of this power. The rumors were that he claimed the power from a princess from some world, but it's unlikely. If there was such a power that can bring armies across dimensions, we should know about it. I found a possibility in my journeys, a stone of power called a 'lodestone',"

Syaoran recognized it as a stone that could create a portal across dimensions, from the documents in the library, but his knowledge was limited. "His dark forces overwhelmed and eradicated worlds in his search for the legendary weapon. Armies mobilized, but failed to stop such a force. So four clans, the Li's, the Lin's, the Reed's and the Meng's united. Their four heroes, Li Syaoran, Lin Leijian, Fai Reed, and Meng Kurogane joined forces to get to stop further worlds from being destroyed, and to get to the Blade of Dimensions first. The Li's had a lance, the Lin's possessed a bow, the Reed's possessed the shield, and the Meng's owned the axe. Four legendary weapons, blessed by the dragons, which three we claim. We are missing the lance."

"But there are six legendary weapons!" Eriol interrupted, confused by these new facts. "You told us yourself on the possession of the twin swords! And it was Clow Reed that formed the Li Clan!"

"LI SYAORAN?? The guy's name is-"

"Let me finish, and yes, you have the exact same name. The Li Clan from before and the Li Clan now are very different. Before they were demon hunters, keepers of peace. Now? Just a group of sorcerers, nowhere near as honorable or as powerful. Anyways, the four warriors fought Fong Wei Reed in a final battle at the Clow World, that is where Clow Reed got his name, in which the Blades of Dimensions was claimed. Countless lives were lost as two armies collided, but in the end, Fong Wei Reed clashed with the four heroes. Fong Wei Reed was defeated, but victory came too late. All of the dimensions in the universe was destroyed by the Dark Army. There were large amounts of survivors, but no habitable world for them to live in. So the four heroes used the Blade of Dimensions to create the world we live in now. The four heroes realized that this sword can't remain in anyone's hands, so they split it into two. The Blade of Time and The Blade of Space, otherwise known as the Demon Blade and the Dragon Blade. These nicknames were created to cover the weapon's true identities. The Blade of Time was given to the Meng clan, who consulted Demon magic, and the Blade of Space was given to the Li clan, who used Dragon magic. The Lin clan was irritated of this arrangement, insisting that they have a right to Demon magic, and that they should have a claim. So to placate them, the four real legendary weapons were placed under their care. While Fong Wei Reed's book was returned to the Reed clan. From there, it became generally peaceful until the conflict between dragons and demons arose, which is the conflict we are currently involved in. The Reed book was handed down from generation to generation, until it was handed down to Fong Wei Reed's descendant... Clow Reed. In an attempt for retribution for his ancestor's sins, he tried to use the book for good. He shattered the Book of Darkness, creating a hundred cards, which as of now 53 are used. This book is better known today as the Sakura Cards, but the book is still only at fifty three percent of its full capacity. Sakura, being the book's current master, can use the remaining 47 blank cards to create new cards."

Syaoran's head was spinning from the mass of information. _Dang it, why does he have to explain all of this at once?_

"But Sakura created that nameless card without one of these blanks!" Kero spouted out, as if trying to disprove Fanli's words. "How could these blanks exist without any of our knowledge?"

"No she created a part of a card. It united with the Nothing to become the Hope. She just finished what Clow Reed started, to create a Light Force book. The fact she can even create part of a card proves that Sakura can create 47 other cards when needed, how, only she will know."

"Well, where are these 47 blanks?" Eriol asked curiously, ignoring a certain stuffed animal that was bellowing the impossibility of this story. Eriol though inherited Clow's memories, he never remembered any of this. His mind was full of questions on why that was.

"They were scattered at Clow Reed's death all around the world. After realizing the power of only half the deck, even the great Clow Reed could predicts the full potential, so he scattered them. He knew thgat even he couldn't take full responsibility of the cards, so he made sure that no one can get to them, but the magic he used killed him in the end. That's how he knew how he was going to die. Unlike the Clow Cards, these 'wild' cards don't need to be near the book until they have been converted, so they lasted through time. Darkness can sustain itself, light can't. You ask where are they now?" Fanli drew out a deck of cards from his pocket. Syaoran eyes widened when he recognized those cards as the cards that Fanli randomly shuffles sometimes. "Right here. I went around for a good amount of time to seek out these while I investigated the history of the previous Dimension War." _Previous?_

"You collected all of them? That must have taken a long time!" Syaoran was amazed at how Fanli managed to handle this capturing process. The 53 Clow Cards were a hassle to capture, and that was with a whole team.

"I just said that I spent a good majority of my life hunting for these cards and information about the past. About... a hundred years. Give or take." Sudden silence entered the room, followed by a blast of questions.

"WHAT? A hundred years??" "How old are you?" "Then how does this other brat... er Xiahua know you? Is she also some sort of immortal."

Xiahua finally spoke up. "No, I'm not an immortal... Xiahua is not my real name. My real name is Lin Lily. I'm a reincarnation of Lin Xiahua. I have all of her memories, and... her duty."

"So what is this duty?" Syaoran silenced everyone else, allowing him to only ask the questions.

"To kill the murderer who killed my sister." Her words were hollow, filled with confusion and loss.

"Who is the killer?" Lily/Xiahua hesitated for a bit, then pointed...

"FANLI??"

"My sister, Lin Mia, was married to him... and one day..."

"And my name isn't really Fanli... it's Meng Yan, or Nightmare. I am of the Meng clan."

"Wait, so is the Meng clan our enemies?

"They would've, but they are all dead."

"Who killed them?"

"... I did... I lost myself to the darkness, and massacred the entire clan and Mia. The Meng clan lived in isolation somewhere hidden in China, so no one could have came and save them in time. I have been saved by Mia, but it costed her her life, and it broke my contract with the demons."

"Oh..."

"But the past is past. Demons love to dwell in the past. That is where they get their anger, their rage, their hatred..."

"So you have no family left?

"Oh, I wouldn't say that..."

"What do you mean?"

"Just say Eriol isn't the only one with a 'cute little descendant'."

"What?"

"Before the great massacre... I had a daughter with Mia." Those words shocked Lily/Xiahua, she never knew that in her past life, she had a niece. "Last I heard, this daughter of mine married a guy whose family's name was Amamiya..." Touya noticeably stiffened. "And last I heard about them, they married, moved to Japan and had a son."

"So you're..."

"Sakura's and Touya's great-great grandpa."

"What??" Touya couldn't hold it in any longer. "You mean that YOU, a BRAT, are my great-great grandfather?"

"Wow, how welcoming. But back to the old topic, Lily, how did Quake get hold of the Meng clan's ax? Is the Lin clan making deals with the Demons?"

"I don't know..."

"Well, that would explain some things, but I fear my hypothesis of the sudden surge of power for the Demons."

"Huh?"

"The demons are getting stronger... I have a feeling I know why. The only way demons can cross from their realm to ours is through a lodestone, my guess is the demons found one, got some idiot to activate it, and then used it to tap another power source. The worlds that has been conquered by Fong Wei Reed were consumed by a dark realm, all those who perished along with the world had their energy absorbed into the dark chasm. It's my guess that the Demon's somehow found this realm and tapped into this source, but we need to investigate that and any Lin clan involvement. Along those lines, we need to retrieve the last weapon, get Sakura to create 43 more cards, and reseal the remaining five demons..." Yan/Fanli stopped talking. "That's funny, Syaoran, do you feel that... something... is missing?"

Syaoran was confused. He felt something was amiss, something familiar and close, something important... "Something is wrong with the Li clan! Something happened in Hong Kong! I have to-"

"Stop Syaoran. It will have to wait until later today. All of us are drained. Get some sleep, first thing in the morning, you and I will go investigate. It's almost Christmas, I am pretty sure everyone can take a day off for shopping." The suggestion was met with much enthusiasm.

"Fine..."

* * *

**Hong Kong** **- Morning - Christmas Eve**

"What the hell happened here?" Syaoran scrambled around what used to be the mansion of the great Li clan. The mansion was in ruins, the entire structure collapsed on itself, with fires burning all over the place. Blood soaked the ground, and the echoes of screams pierced the air. "Is there anyone here? Anybody? Somebody..?"

"Don't count on it Syaoran. The demons... or demon set an aura around the perimeter after the attack. It made sure no one was going to come and help if there was any survivors."

"DANG IT! Why did this happen? If I was strong enough..."

"No, it's not your fault. The demons are strong."

"Argh, I could have done something! Anything!"

"The past is past. We need to focus on winning this war. Focus on protecting our remaining loved ones... Syaoran, you are not alone in this war. Sakura lost her father, I lost my family and fiance, and there are many more casualties to come. These deaths will unite us, the shared pain. We are all in this together. Don't let it break you. You have many more to lose. Take it from me. Come on, let's give a proper burial."

"Right..." _I'm going to kill these demons with my bare hands..._

* * *

**Tomoeda**

"Awwww Sakura, you have to get that!" Nakuru jumped up and down franctically in front of a store window, pointing at a pink dress. "It fits you perfectly!"

"Calm down Nakuru!"

"Yea! We're in public you know?"

Meilin and Lily yelled and tried to tame the energetic girl. Sakura was still sullen and depressed from her father's death, but there was a significant improvement. She at least was able to function and stop crying. Tomoyo constantly stayed by her side, making sure her best friend was OK.

"Come on boys! We have to hit a lot more stores!" Eriol, Touya and Yukito replied with groans, carrying dozens of heavy bags. They were being helplessly dragged around in this endless shopping spree. All three of them were still lost in thought about last nights discussion.

_So the shield originally belonged to Clow Reed, now Tomoyo is the master... is Fate at work here? Why Tomoyo? This is going to be dangerous for her... Why didn't I inherit those memories?__  
__  
I can't believe THAT BRAT is my great-great grandpa! We look nothing alike! That bastard...__  
__  
Hm, forty three more cards, I wonder what they will be... Can Sakura handle creating that many cards?_

"BOYS! HURRY UP! WE ALL NEED TO GET SOME LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING DONE!" This was met with more groans and sighs of exasperation. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

**Hong Kong**

"Mom... Fanren... Shiefa... Feimei... Fuutie... I'm sorry. I failed to protect you from this demon threat. It was my duty to defeat the demons, and I have yet to accomplish that. I miss you all, but I won't let myself be consumed with hatred and despair. I will not allow the demons to enjoy my emotions. I'm not afraid. I won't lose."

"Syaoran? You ready?" Yan was reviewing the battle that occurred here using his time magic. "It was the Hell Lord himself: Ragnarok."

_Rangarok... you're mine..._

"But this battle proved one thing. The demons are using lodestones."

"So they exist?"

"Yep. Approximately 16 hours ago, a package arrived here. I have no idea who the sender is, but it is from some one close to the Li clan. It was an activated lodestone, but the Li Elders didn't know about its power." Yan took a small rock out of his pocket. Syaoran stared at the small stone, barely the size of his fist. It was gray and dull, and seemed like a normal rock. _Expect the unexpected..._

"So who sent it?"

"I've no idea. But that means demons can only cross with activated lodestones, no way else. Someone's setting up and activating these lodestones, and there must be one in Tomoeda. We must find it and deactivate it."

"What should we do with this one? It's a big threat."

"I already deactivate it. I've no way to destroy it, so I'll have to hold on to it for now. Come on, we have work to do. Let's find that stone."

* * *

_You OK kid?__  
__  
Tian? Haven't heard from you for a while.__  
__  
Can't survive on in that little head of yours forever you know? Even I need to return to the Dragon Realm. Don't need to watch out for you as much now. You grew stronger.__  
__  
Not strong enough.__  
__  
Sorry kid, but you can't blame yourself. You had your hands full with your own life, and all of your friends. You're immortal, but not necessarily invincible. You will age and die, if you wish.__  
__  
What good is my power if I can't protect my own family?__  
__  
You have your friends. Protect them. Protect Sakura. That was why you became the Dragon Master in the first place anyways! You went through hell not for your family, but for HER.__  
__  
Right... She doesn't love me anymore though. She only sees me as a friend...__  
__  
We all need friends in this world. She needs you, you need her. A circle. You love her, and it'll just be a matter of time. And about the dragon you made.__  
__  
Yea?__  
__  
Be careful. The world has a balance among dragons and demons. This will be the first time that there will be more dragons than Demon Lords. I've no idea about its outcome.__  
__  
I see.__  
__  
Be aware. Expect the unexpected._

* * *

**Tomoeda**

The group was still shopping, going from store to store. The repetition of shop-ransacking was halted when Sakura suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. A strange presence flickered from somewhere, it was much weakers than a Demon Lords, but familiar. She felt this specific presence before.

"Demons."

"Here?"

"Weaker ones, nearby. There is a strange force." Sakura seemed to be in a trance, just staring off into the distance. Eriol glanced around, noticing a weak, dark aura.

"Let's go investigate it! Lazin board, do your job!" Meilin whipped out her compass. "It can't be far... it seems to be coming from... the park!" The group took off running (which was hard for the guys since they were weighed down by a hundred pounds of shopping bags) towards the park, every step the aura felt a little stronger. _Must be weak demons__**.**_ It was only matter of time before they reached the park (with the help of magic of course), and they immediately set an barrier to keep any innocent bystanders out of the way. Eriol warped the stockpile of shopping bags back to the house (this was met with complaints from the rest of the guys, wondering why he didn't do that earlier), and then the search began. Everyone drew out their weapons, and started scanning the park, securing the area and ensuring this is not another trap. Meanwhile, Eriol and Meilin simply followed the compass to the presence, which lead to the playground.

Eriol approached the playground warily. _It feels close... the penguin?_ He took a few steps forwards, staff ready. He tapped the penguin slide, but nothing happened. A circle of light surrounded Eriol as he prepared his spell. "Dark force, reveal yourself!" A flash of light erupted from the slide, revealing a large staircase spiraling down into the center of the earth. It went down for miles, Eriol couldn't even see the bottom. "Uh... guys? I think I found it."

* * *

The group slowly walked down the stairway, using lights from ofudas and spells to illuminate the dark passageway. The stairway seemed to never end, as if they were trapped in a bottomless pit, but Eriol felt confident that there was an end... somewhere. Ten minutes of walking pointless began to irritate the group.

"First that darn temple now this, this is NOT my week." Meilin's feet began to ache due to the excess walking. "Maybe we shouldn't have went shopping."

"I got an idea, LOOP! Take us to the bottom!" The pink card formed a 'portal' that did the job, to much of everyone's pleasure. As they all entered the 'ground' floor, they observed the dark empty room. There was no demons, only... "So, what the heck is that?" Sakura pointed to a giant rock in the center of the room, which was emiting large amounts of strange magic.

"I dunno, but we should take it with us. Fan- I mean Yan might know what it is."

"I am afraid I can't allow that." A demon knight leaped onto the stone from the darkness, dozens of lesser demons followed. _Where the hell did this one come from?_ Sakura recognized this demon from the aquarium: A skeleton with blood red eyes, a black sword and a shield with a black serpent. "I have been assigned to personally protect this stone. So prepare to die" The demon knight raised his weapon, and the lesser demons began to rush the group.

"Yep, definitely not my week."

* * *

**Hong Kong**

"Everything in order Syaoran?"

"Yea, I had to clean somethings up. As of now, a psycho murdering group killed the Li clan, leaving Meilin and me all the money and property, which we would be using to bring down the murderers. I informed Meilin of the situation, she took it quite well, but then again, she didn't have that many ties with the clan. She wouldn't careless."

"Niiiice, I am so sure everyone is going to fall for that cra- I mean brilliant story."

"Oh shut up. It will work."

"If you say so. Remind me to challenge you to a game of BS when things die down. Now let's head back to Tomoeda. My instincts tell me that those guys got themselves into deep trouble again."

Another circle of light, and they were gone. _Ragnarok... this is war._

* * *

**Tomoeda**

"Er, Syaoran? Why did you take us to the park? And did a meteor hit recently? And somehow... perfectly make a staircase... for who knows how long?"

"I teleported us to Sakura's location... which should be right here..."

"Don't tell me they actually went down there!"

"Well..."

"Those idiots! Can't they sense the dark aura? There are demons down there and... wow those idiots found a lodestone."

"WHAT?"

"Shut up and start running... hell, looks like free falling is faster."

"Wait, you don't know how deeEEEEEEEEE..." Yan, irritated by Syaoran's lack of confidence, pushed him down into the dark hole, and leaped down after him. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

* * *

"Sakura! Behind you! Kashin shourai!" A jet of flames nearly grazed Sakura's head as it burned a demon behind her. It screamed as it burned to crisp. Sakura drew out two cards. "Light! Wave! Blast these demons back to their hell hole!" Waves of light blasted out of her star staff, slicing down demons all around her. There was still dozens of demons left, and everyone was occupied on taking them down. She quickly changed her focus on the head of the snake.

"Not bad Card Mistress. Now face me!" The demon knight charged at Sakura swinging his black sword at her head. "Shield! Sword!" A pink barrier stopped the attack, and Sakura countered with a thrust. The demon blocked with his shield, and leaped back, sword ready.

"Your skills are admireable, but not enough to defeat me!" The two swords rang as they clashed with each other, neither warrior gaining an edge over the other.

"Dash! Jump! Power!" Sakura threw out three more cards, and leaped in the air, allowing the force of gravity to power her blow. The demon blocked the overhead slice with his shield, but the attack was too powerful. The shield cracked in half and dissolved into the darkness. The demon hissed at the loss of his weapon, and charged at Sakura once more. Sakura easily avoided the strike, and hacked at the demon skeleton's head. The bones of the skeleton were strong, but Sakura's attack managed to impale the demons head, but the demon didn't seem to feel the blow.

"You will have to do better than that Card Mistress. You are far to weak to fight the demons."

"We will see about that. Light! Emit from my sword!" The sword exploded with light, and the demon knight screamed as it disintegrated into darkness. "I refuse to be weak. I need to be strong.. to protect the ones I love..."

The remaining demons quickly fell to the weapons and magic of the others. They were about to get up and leave when a strange sound echoed throughout the room.

"Yaaaaaaannnnnnn yooouuuu idddddiiioootttt!" Everyone looked up in surprise to see Syaoran falling from the sky. Seconds later, he managed to land gracefully on the ground. Yan landed a few seconds later.

"Hell yea! That's what I'm talking about... whoa! A lodestone! You idiots really did find it! I thought I was going delusional..." Yan ran towards the giant rock in the middle and investigated it. Syaoran on the other hand, questioned the rest of the group.

"What happened here? Are you guys hurt?"

"We felt a demonic presence and found this place. We're fine."

"Yep, this is definitely a lodestone! A big one too! Once I deactivate it, no more demons will be able to cross into Tomoeda!"

"What are you waiting for? How long will you take to deactivate it?"

"I already did." Everybody stared at Yan and the stone. "THAT'S IT??"

"I never said it was hard to deactivate one... just said it was important."

* * *

_You won this round fools... but the war is far from over. That was just the taste of our power. You may have seven of the demon lords back, but the game is still beginning. You haven't even realized the larger, the more important plan._

"Dark Forces, your turn."

* * *

**Christmas**

"GUYS WAKE UP IT'S CHRISTMAS!" All the girls have already piled into the living room as all the guys finally managed to wake up. Touya glanced at his cell phone to see the time. _No way I couldn't have slept that long... what time is it..._

"JEEZ IT IS ONE IN THE MORNING NAKURU!"

"SOOOO?"

"I'M GOING TO COME DOWN THERE AND KILL YOU!"

"GOOD! JUST HURRY UP!"

"SHUT UP!"

"THAT ISN'T CHRISTMAS LANGUAGE!"

After a few minutes of bickering, the guys finally managed to wake up and drag themselves down the stairs. There were another few minutes of pointless arguments, until finally everyone gathered in the living room. All the guys gasped when the saw the state the living room was: There was a giant green tree in the center of the room, with decorations all over the wall. There was a small mountain of presents stacked under the tree.

"What the hell did you guys do to my living room?"

"Jeez Yan, get in the Christmas spirit!"

"Christmas?... Oh right..." _Haven't celebrated Christmas for years...celebrated anything... without her. It all seemed meaningless._

"Get a life Yan. Now where are my presents?" Lily dived towards the stockpile. "A gift for Syaoran... a gift for Sakura... where the hell are mine??"

* * *

Everyone got a nice haul of gifts this year, ranging from clothing to nice baubles. It was quite a pleasant morning, a nice change after days of darkness. Everyone began to head to the dining room for breakfast, but Syaoran and Yan confronted Sakura outside of the room.

"Sakura? Can we talk?"

"Um... sure."

"Here is my gift for you." Syaoran fished out the dragonstone necklace he made and handed it to Sakura.

"Oh my god... Syaoran it's... beautiful."

"It's a priceless gem, a dragonstone. Not only does it contain great magic, it is also an egg. When it's ready... it'll hatch."

"It?..."

"A Star Dragon. Her name is Nova, please take good care of her."

"I will..." Sakura adored the beautiful pink stone, shining and glimmering in the dark room. She immediately put it on her neck, loving the warm energy it emits.

"And this is also for you." Yan handed over a deck on black cards.

"And these are..."

"You will find out soon enough."

* * *

"Whew! That's a good breakfast!" Kero collapsed on the ground, stomach bursting from the amount of food he ate.

"Well, Christmas only comes once a year..."

"School will be starting soon again... Lily, you going to register at our school?"

"Er..."

"Suck it up Lily, you're coming with us. I have hundreds of years of knowledge, and Eriol is Reed's reincarnation. You don't see us complaining."

"Fine..."

"Well, with that lodestone gone, we will have a nice period of peace for a while. Until we find the source of the lodestones, all we can do is train and wait."

"Sounds good to me!" _If it's only that easy..._

* * *

**That night**

Sakura tossed and turned in her bed, sweat began to drip down her forehead. Her necklace was glowing bright pink, while the blank deck of cards on her deck began to forming a strange aura.

_Dream Sequence__  
__  
"Where am I?" Sakura was in the middle of a deserted wasteland. There were ruins all around her, evident of mass destruction has occured. A flash of light, and she was in a graveyard, in front of a row of tombstones. Their names were blurred out.__  
__  
"You're in the future, young Card Mistress." Eight figures surrounded her. She couldn't make out their exact appearance, but their presence was there.__  
__  
"The.. the future?"__  
__  
"Sisters of Fate already started the wheel of destruction. The Dark Forces have reemerged. You must finish what Clow started."__  
__  
"What? Who are you?"__  
__  
"We are Dark Forces, we want to help you conquer the rest of the Dark Forces."__  
__  
"What?"__  
__  
"The Dark Forces, you must seal them. We will aid you in this upcoming war."__  
__  
"But... why? Aren't you Dark Forces? Why are you helping me?"__  
__  
"We had a schism. Most will fight you, but some of us will help."__  
__  
"But... why?"__  
__  
"It's time... we finish this fight." The names on the tombstones began to reveal themselves. __**Eriol Hiiragizawa, Lin Lily, Daidōji Tomoyo, Kinomoto Touya, Tsukishiro Yukito, Akizuki Nakuru, Li Meilin, and... Kinomoto Sakura.**__  
__  
"Sakura?" She turned to see two different figures. She gasped, they may be slightly older, but they were easily recognizable. "Syaoran? Meng?"_

On Sakura's desk, eight cards began to glow. They all turned pink, into Sakura cards. On them, were The Future, The Rage, The Peace, The Chaos, The Fear, The Courage, The Hate, and The Love.

* * *

End of Dark Fate Arc 2: The Beginning. To be Continued in Dark Fate Arc 3: The Eye of the Storm.


	18. An Endless Night

Arc 3 The Eye of the Storm

AN: Hey, welcome back to Dark Fate, arc 3. This arc is a mixed of laid back fun chapters and challenging card creating. Trying to change it up a bit. Note, these chapters will be fast. Many plots per chapter. Song used in the chapter: Take Me To Your Heart by MLTR. This is a transition chapter, and is all in good fun P. There are many insignificant subplots, and Touya and the guardians are not going to play a big role. These chapters are short and going to move fast, but only for this arc. Note: Yan has always been invisible at school, and planned to keep it that way... but things never goes as planned...

Why so late? My computer wasn't working for a week, plus I needed the time to edit. My beta is officially MIA (. Where art thou yuuwatase719? Cause my grammar and punctuation suuuuccckks.

Thanks to AngelEmCuti and fiasse for always reviewing, and sorry about the long paragraphs...

**Dark Fate Ch 18: An Endless Night  
**

The moon shined at its fullest that Christmas night, its celestial light spreading over the bright, clean white snow on the ground. It wasn't freezing, but chilly at a comfortable temperature to snuggle under a warm blanket. A slight breeze blew throughout peaceful Tomoeda, gently shaking the snow off tree branches.

At the secluded home of the gang, two boys sat on the rooftop, staring out into the night. Amber bright eyes shined in the dark, piercing the surrounding blanket of darkness. The owner of the sharp eyes observed the gentle snow falling from the sky. Syaoran's brown hair was as messy as ever, and was getting wet from the snow. He was dressed lightly, but he didn't mind the cold. Yan was next to him, his black eyes staring at the full moon.

"Beautiful night, ain't it Syaoran?"

"Yea... Yan? Why didn't you tell me about all of this? The Cards? The lodestones? Why now?"

"I... wasn't entirely sure myself of they are fact or fiction. There was no documentation that gave enough supporting evidence that proved it. Yet..."

"Then how are you so sure that they are all true?"

"I just do. Just trust me on this." Yan looked glassy-eyed at this. There were still many other secrets that he has yet to reveal.

"So... I've been meaning to ask you, how much life force do you have left? You have been using a lot of dark magic, and I doubt seven demons can sustain that much power."

"It'll be fine. The demons' freedom comes first."

"Freedom? From what?"

"Never mind. Just know that I'll live long enough."

"Fine... is Sakura ready to make these new cards though? Will she be strong enough?" A distinct pink aura began to flash, coming from one of the rooms in the house.

"It looks like it has already begun." Both boys vanished in the dark. _Sakura... you may not want me to protect you all the time... but I'll always be there to save you, whether you like it or not._

* * *

Sakura rolled around her bed, sweat covered her body. Her necklace was flashing pink light, filling the room with a pink aura. A shrill scream escaped from her mouth just as two boys burst into the room.

"Sakura!" Syaoran quickly moved across the room to his friend's side, hugging the hysterical girl. Sakura was on the verge of tears, scremaing and crying. "Shh, calm down. I'm right here. Sakura? Sakura!"

"NO! NO! NOOO! SYAORAN!" She started to gasp for air as she struggled to breath.

"Sakura! Wake up!" Everyone else woke up from the noise, and began piling into the room.

"What's going on?" "Sakura?" "What time is it?" "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER BRAT!" Yan ignored the yelling, and stared at Sakura's desk and its contents. 8 pink Sakura Cards were laid out on the table, all glowing with pink light. "Sakura made 8 new cards in her sleep."

"WHAT?" "HOW?" "SO WHAT DID THAT BRAT DO?"

"Can you all shut up for one second so I can figure this out? Tomoyo, help Syaoran take care of Sakura, Lily and Eriol, go secure the border. Make sure there are no other surprises." Tomoyo hurried herself to her best friend while Eriol and Lily left the room with their weapons. Yan glanced at the eight cards: The Future, The Rage, The Peace, The Chaos, The Fear, The Courage, The Hate, and The Love. The first one caught his eye. "Oh shi-"

"The area is secure." Eriol and Lily returned as quickly as they disappeared. "The barrier is up, no intruders, no surprises. So what the heck is going on?"

"Sakura is trapped in a dream... a foretelling dream. Only slightly different."

"She's been in a lot of foretelling dreams before. What's so different with this one?"

"She is actually in the future." Yan picked up one of the Sakura Cards. "Sakura must have been confronted by eight forces... who willing allowed her to form eight cards... maybe. Or she fought them and won, but then she should be awake... Anyways, either way, the only reason she was able to pull that off is because of Syaoran's gift. It's providing the magic she needs to create many new cards and stay alive. Right now, The Future... has dumped her there. Just like The Return. How did you save her from The Return?"

Kero and Syaoran paused for a moment, thinking back. "We used The Time card to interfere with The Return."

"Got it." Yan drew out his sword, and slammed it down. "Time! Come to my aid!"

* * *

_"Sakura? No, it can't be. She's... dead..."__  
__  
"Syaoran? What's going on? Where am I?"__  
__  
"Hey Li! The demons are back! Little girl! Get out of here!"__  
__  
"Little girl?"__  
__  
"RUN! Hei Dian!" The ground shook as hundreds of monstrous creatures appeared in the horizon. Black lightening rained from the sky, colliding with the stampede. Syaoran charged at the armada, drawing his sword. "Tian! Come forth!" A portal appeared in the sky, releasing a majestic white dragon. It roared as it dived at the monsters. Sakura was frozen at place, watching the two boys fight off an endless nightmare.__  
__  
"Ragnarok, come to my aid!" Ragnarok? What? We seal all of the demons? Then why...__  
__  
"NO! God dang it, REED, SHOW YOURSELF?" The future Syaoran rushed towards the swarm of horrendous beasts, "TIAN! SHOW YOUR WRATH! DRACONIC JUDGMENT!"__  
__  
"Reed? SYAORAN! NO!" It's too late, Syaoran was nowhere to be seen, consumed by the stampede. "Meng! What's going on? Meng?" Yan looked awfully pale... and transparent. "Oh no..."__  
__  
"Ragnarok! Get Syaoran now!" The dark dragon roared with power, sending black flames at the mass, there were too many, too many to count...__  
__  
__**Mistress Sakura... this fate will arrive... unless you seal all of the Dark Forces... **__  
__  
"How?"__  
__  
__**That's for you to find out...**__**  
**__**  
**__ "Are you freaking kidding me? If you know the answer, and want to help save the world, why won't you tell me? HELLO?"__  
__  
The dream began to fade and another one took its place. She appeared in a seemingly empty chasm. Nothing but darkness and a few bits of distant light surrounded her, like little stars. A dragon appeared in front of her.__  
__  
"Hello Mistress Sakura." A melodious tone rang in the vacuum. "I'm Nova, your guardian Dragon of the Stars."__  
__  
"No...va?"__  
__  
"I was created by The Dragon Master to protect you at all costs... now rest... your friends await you... You have many trials ahead of you."_

* * *

"She's waking up!" Sakura groaned as her head began to throb. She felt hot and sticky, yet comfortable. Someone was holding her, but she wasn't complaining.

"Thanks for stating the obvious stuffed animal."

"You want to run that by again brat?"

"Want me to bring back Luna?"

"... You win." Sakura blinked a few times, her vision slowly returning to her. Dozens of fuzzy faces surrounded her. It took a few more seconds for her to be able to see clearly. She looked around, seeing everyone was sitting beside her.

"... Where am I?"

"In your room." Tomoyo. sitting at Sakura's left was wiping Sakura's face with a wet towel, cleaning off the sweat.

"And... why is everyone here?"

"You had one hell of a nightmare, monster." Touya stated grumpily. He had to work in a few hours, and he needed his sleep. _Who's holding me?_ Sakura lifted her head to see a pair of worried amber eyes.

"HOEEEE!"

* * *

"So... let me get this straight... I created eight cards... in my sleep... without me knowing about it." Sakura's head began to throb once again as she took in all of the history she missed and the new information. _This is too much..._ They were all gathered at the dining room for breakfast. Touya, Yukito and Nakuru had already left to go to work at the hospital, while the rest were waiting around for the last few days of vacation, all dressed in their pajamas. Yab came out of the kitchen and entered the dining room, holding a large cup of orange juice.

"Yea, that sounds about right. We have no idea how you pulled it off, but we are guessing that Nova had something to with it." Yan took a large gulp of orange juice, and collapsed on a chair.

"Why are you drinking? We don't need food Yan, so save it for those who do. And why are you dressed?" Syaoran commented with raised eyebrows.

Yan was dressed in a black flannel shirt and black cargo pants. Under his black flannel shirt was a plain white undershirt, giving a significant contrast. He didn't look bad... but his aura makes it hard for anyone to think that he looks good. "I miss the taste of good orange juice. I have some work to do today, so you guys just... do whatever you want. There shouldn't be anymore demon attacks, but remember to always be prepared and armed. Got it? Pick somewhere for dinner tonight, somewhere nice to celebrate. Later." Yan vanished in midair, leaving everyone quite confused.

"Where should we go tonight... hey! Isn't there a new restaurant opening in Tomoeda? I got an invitation from mom!" Tomoyo jumped up and down enthusiastically. "I can design clothes for everyone to wear! I have an entire day! Don't even think of running away!" Everybody groaned in unison. It's going to be a long day.

* * *

**Tomoeda Hospital**

"Hey, Touya, you have a moment?" Touya looked up from his pile paperwork to see Yukito walk in with another stack of papers. "Nakuru wants me to give this to you."

"Great... Thanks Yuki." As Yukito was about to walk out of the room, Touya spoke up again. "Hey Yuki, how are you feeling? Yue was more active than you recently. How does it feel?"

"OK actually... I'm more and more aware of what's happening when Yue is out. It must be Sakura's new strength, but we're starting to merge. You know, become one."

"What? Is that a good thing? Is that sa-"

"I should be the least of your worries. Sakura has a new set of trials in front of her..."

* * *

**A few hours later... during the afternoon**

Yan reappeared in front of the house, exhausted from the long day. He was busy "cleaning up" his identity, modifying memories and hacking into databases so that a "Meng, Yan" exists in the modern world now. _Stupid government and society... why does everything have to be so difficult?_ It took him a few hours to break into Japan's government database, and create a new identification for himself. He 'acquired' a set of passports and ID, modified everyone's memory so they all acknowledge him as "Yan". _Why do I bother? Why don't I just stick with Fanli?_ Because running from the past doesn't change anything. He tried to forget his past, and that solved nothing. His thoughts was interrupted when he heard screaming coming from the house. His first instinct was to prepare for a fight, so he threw off his flannel shirt, the wind blowing the shirt to the ground, and drew out his sword. He moved forward slowly scanning the area.

"TOMOYO! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" "STOP TRYING TO DRESS ME!" Yan sweatdropped. _Oh hell no..._ The house began to shake, loud thumping could be heard from people scrambling in the house. The noises grew louder and louder, until finally... Syaoran blasted out of the front door, running frantically. Fear and panic was etched on his face and his amber brown eyes showed one signal: terror. "YAN! RUUUUUUNNN!"

"LI SYAORAN, GET BACK HERE! Oh Yan! Perfect! We're going to eat dinner at the new restaurant later, so you need to get dressed!" _Oh, crap._

* * *

"So why am I being dressed up like this again?" Yan and Syaoran were once again, trapped by the psychotic camera women/clothes designer and her flock of witches. They stood with their arms out as Tomoyo constantly measured them, flipping through a piles of clothes.

"I told you, I got invitations for the grand opening of the new restaurant at To-"

"OK, OK... jeez. After saving your butts all this time, this is how you treat us..."

"Shut up Yan, and stop complaining."

"Why can't I dress how I normally dress?"

"Since you just grab random clothes off the floor of your closet. Your fashion sense is horrendous."

"Hey, I'm still alive! Hark, does that mean... CLOTHES DON'T MATTER!" Syaoran smacked his forehead. _You don't say that in front of any girl, especially Tomoyo..._

"WHAT?? MENG YAN, HOW DARE YOU-" The house went into an uproar, and once again, the house began to shake. _Holy crap, Eriol's girlfriend is scary._

* * *

"YAN? WHY ARE YOU STILL DRESSED LIKE THAT?" Tomoyo was angry, and that was an understatement. She was furious. Everyone dressed up nicely under Tomoyo's orders... except for one rebellious boy. Yan was dressed up in the same outfit earlier. Pitch black clothes with a white undershirt, and black tennis shoes. He was dressed quite casually compared to everyone else, and stood out like the nose on someone's face. Syaoran was dressed in a nice green Chinese robe, with a Yin-yang symbol on front, similar to his old Cardcaptoring outfit. Meilin wore a sparkly ruby red dress and heels, matching her red eyes and fiery temper. Sakura was dressed in a light pink blouse and skirt, which had Chinese writing on one sleeve and English on the other, both meaning the same thing: 'Ying Fa' and 'Cherry Blossom'. Her short hair was tied with a pink ribbon. Eriol was dressed a navy blue suit, Tomoyo dressed in a amethyst purple dress, and Lily was dressed in a yellow dress, designed the same way as Meilin's and Tomoyo. That left Yan all alone, dressed in casual clothes. Touya, Yukito and Nakuru were busy with work, while Kero and Suppi were battling it out on Yan's Xbox 360. (He definitely isn't happy about it...)

"Hey, I dress to be comfortable. When you're spending most of your life fighting, you don't care how you look."

"THIS IS A FORMAL EVENT!"

"I been to even more important events dressed even less nicely. Be lucky that I'm even wearing anything."

"Urgh, you are the most annoying little..." Tomoyo grabbed her necklace and drew out her shield, "boy I ever met."

"Is that a challenge? Do you really want to get everyone's nice clothes dirty? Plus, I think we are going to be late." Yan pulled out a watch. The event started at 7... and its already 6:50.

"OH CRAP! Everyone MOVE! INTO THE LIMO NOW!" Tomoyo shoved everyone (except Yan, who mysteriously vanished) into the limo, and it sped off.

"Where did Yan go?"

As the limo drove off, a small orb of light appeared. It bobbed up and down a bit before following the vehicle.

* * *

Yan sighed as he appeared in front of the new restaurant, _The Endless Night._ "What kind of name is that?..." Yan paced around as he waited for the rest, but paused when he felt a strange force. He saw a limo driving towards him, and saw a set of astonished faces when the limo stopped. No one talked at first, finally, Tomoyo opened her mouth... again.

"YAN! HOW DID YOU GET HERE SO FAST?"

"Time magic? Ring any bells? Opposite to Syaoran's?" Syaoran smacked his forehead. _Why didn't I use my Space magic? I could've got away from Tomoyo!_ "Come on, let's get inside."

"Hai." The group (Three boys, four girls in case you lost count) entered the restaurant, and were quickly led to a table, Table 36. Syaoran looked around, observing his surroundings. There were dozens of TV screens around the room, and a gigantic stage in the center of the far all. There were about a hundred tables in the large room, all filled with well dressed people. It was all good until...

"SYAORAN!" A blond girl charged at their table, pushing past the stampede of people. She was very pretty, with sparkly blue eyes... but she had 'plastic spoiled brat' written all over her.

"Aki... you mind going back to your table?" Syaoran snarled, but the girl just smiled sweetly at him. "Awwww... come on Syaoran, you can call me Aiko..."

"I will pass, Aki." Aki Aiko, by lack of other terms, is their school's rich (er... either a word with a **b**, **w**, or **s**. Take a guess what they are). She goes through guys like crazy, and has set her eyes on poor little Syaoran. She gave a pout at Syaoran, and began trying to seduce him once more. She was quite a snob due to her super rich parents. She went through three kidnapping attempts and one murder attempt, but since they failed miserably, she uses them to gather more attention.

"Hey, brat. Some people want to eat dinner tonight." Yan flipped through a menu at the table, ignoring the glare he was receiving. More importantly, he was focusing on a strange presence that seemed to be floating around in the room. "I dunno, maybe I'm allergic to bes. Either way, I think I lost my appetite." Meilin and Lily covered their faces with their menus, attempting to smother their laughs and giggles.

"Back off Meng. This is none of your business, you nobody." Everyone was surprised that she called him 'Meng', but he waved it off. "Minds, so easy to manipulate." Aiko stomped her feet at the ground, throwing a tantrum, thinking that Yan was calling her stupid, but everyone got the real message.

"Well, if being a somebody means being someone like you, I'll take being a 'nobody'. After all, 'nobody' is perfect. By the way, Syaoran isn't your business either," Yan continued coolly as he watched the brat grow angrier, steam blowing out of her ears. "He is Sakura's. And back away from Eriol too, that's Tomoyo's business. Now be a good girl for once and- oh wait. That's never going to happen is it?" That apparently was the last straw, since Aiko stormed off, leaving a red-faced Sakura and Tomoyo. She sat back down on at her table, and glared at Sakura. Syaoran sighed in relief.

"Thanks for getting rid of her Yan."

"Don't thank me yet, she'll be back. She's a stubborn one. You might be on your own next time. You need to get an aura."

"An aura?"

"The 'Stay the hell away from me if you want to live' aura. I learned it ever since I was... 8?"

"Oh, I had that. Now, my glare does the job."

"Not anymore. Girls are just too attracted to you."

"Hush! The ceremony is starting!" The room went silent as everyone turned to a large central stage in the room. The dark red curtains shined as spot lights hit them. A young man walked on stage, and coughed in the microphone.  
**  
"Welcome to the grand opening of The Endless Night. We hope you enjoy your stay and our great food. To have some audience involvement, we'll start with some karaoke from the audience-"** A loud thump echoed in the room. Yan slammed his head on the table after hearing 'karaoke'.

"Don't worry man, the chances of you being picked-"

"No! Don't you dare jinx it!"

"What?"

**"We will start with... ah, let's start with these two boys at table 36!"** The announcer was flipping through the guest lists, checking the boys' ID.

"YOU JUST HAD TO JINX IT!"

**"Welcome to the stage, Li Syaoran and Meng Yan."** The two boys groaned as spotlights turned to focus on them.

"Go!" "Hurry up, you'll do fine!" Syaoran and Yan were shoved off their chairs and pushed towards the stage. Lily rolled her eyes, cursing that she didn't bring soundproof earphones.

_Yay! My Syaoran is going to sing! If only that Meng wasn't there..._ Aiko giggled as she watched Syaoran walk toward the stage, with a scowl on his face. The two boys walked to the microphones, and the speaker smiled at them.

**"Ah, they are both Chinese. Let's pick a Chinese/English song, don't worry folks, we will have lyrics and translations on the screens."** Yan glanced around and saw all the screens flickered on, every screen showed the two boys on stage. Crap.

**"The song will be Take Me To Your Heart, by MLTR. Translated form Jacky Cheung's Goodbye Kiss/Wen Bie. Welcome Li and Meng!"** The crowd clapped to welcome the two boys, both red from embarrassment. **"Why don't you two introduce yourselves first?**"**  
****  
** "Er... I'm Li Syaoran... going to be a third year in high school."

**"And you are?"**

"Hated by Fate... and Fortune... and pretty much everyone at school." Yan muttered into the microphone with an extreme lack of enthusiasm. The crowd began to applaud and cheer, ignoring the comment from Yan. _Where the hell is that presence? And why doesn't Sakura detect it?_

"Go my cute little-" "Good luck Syaoran!" "Go Syaoran!" "Hey Yan, can you even sing?" "I doubt it." Their oh so loyal table of friends were cheering them on... well cheering Syaoran on. Yan was on his own. He just shrugged it off, and looked at the screen, reviewing the lyrics, before the song actually began. The song was a sappy romantic one, but it beats the modern crap kids listen to these days.

"Syaoran? Want to start?"

"Why not. I know this song, I can take whatever."

"Let's get this over with." Syaoran took a deep breath, and prepared himself as the music began. Lyrics filled the screen, and Syaoran began to sing.

_"Hiding from the rain and snow__  
Trying to forget but I won't let go__  
Looking at a crowded street__  
Listening to my own heart beat__  
__  
So many people all around the world__  
Tell me where do I find someone like you girl_" _  
__  
_ People began to cheer as Syaoran's voice filled the room. His voice was perfect, matching the music perfectly.

"Meilin? Did you know Syaoran was a great singer?" Sakura was intrigued about how great Syaoran's voice was. _What is this weird feeling? It feels like... like... back when I lo- wait? A force? Where is it?_ Sakura turned head around furiously, looking for the strange presence.

"Of course! He's great at everything!"

"Hm, Yan is starting... cover your ears people." Lily immediately put her hands over her ears as Yan opened his mouth at the mike. and began to sing.

"Can he sing?"

"No idea, but I don't really want to find out the hard way. He doesn't seem like the singing type." Everyone braced themselves at her advice.  
_  
"Take me to your heart take me to your soul__  
Give me your hand before I'm old__  
Show me what love is - haven't got a clue__  
Show me that wonders can be true__  
__  
They say nothing lasts forever__  
We're only here today__  
Love is now or never__  
Bring me far away"__  
__  
_ More cheers echoed in the room, and Lily fell off her chair. "Holy crap! He can actually sing!" Everyone else fell off their chair at that comment. Syaoran was great, but Yan was amazing. Yan ignored his surroundings, as memories were flashing through his mind as he sing. _A young boy running with a young girl, laughing and playing in a garden... A teenage boy practicing martial arts with the same girl... A gold blade slicing through the body of the girl. Some wounds can't be healed... _His thoughts were distracted once more by the presence.

Syaoran took over, not failing to notice how distracted his friend seemed to be. _Something's up.__  
_  
_"Take me to your heart take me to your soul__  
Give me your hand and hold me__  
Show me what love is - be my guiding star__  
It's easy take me to your heart_"

Yan glanced around as he resumed the song. _Come on Sakura... Find the presence..._

_"Standing on a mountain high__  
Looking at the moon through a clear blue sky__  
I should go and see some friends__  
But they don't really comprehend__  
__  
Don't need too much talking without saying anything__  
All I need is someone who makes me wanna sing_"

S/Y

_"Take me to your heart take me to your soul__  
Give me your hand before I'm old__  
Show me what love is - haven't got a clue__  
Show me that wonders can be true__  
__  
They say nothing lasts forever__  
We're only here today__  
Love is now or never__  
Bring me far away__  
__  
Take me to your heart take me to your soul__  
Give me your hand and hold me__  
Show me what love is - be my guiding star__  
It's easy take me to your heart__  
__  
Take me to your heart take me to your soul__  
Give me your hand before I'm old__  
Show me what love is - haven't got a clue__  
Show me that wonders can be true__  
__  
They say nothing lasts forever__  
We're only here today__  
Love is now or never__  
Bring me far away__  
__  
Take me to your heart take me to your soul__  
Give me your hand and hold me__  
Show me what love is - be my guiding star__  
It's easy... take me to your heart..."_

Everyone stood up and applauded the boys as the two boys took a bow and walked off stage. Cheers and calls for encores could be heard all around the room.

"Yan? Are... we being followed?"

"It's a Dark Force, and it apparently is attracted by music... well good music. Come on, Sakura needs to seal it. Just act normal... screw it, move move move!" Syaoran and Yan got a mix of strange looks and looks of awe as they ran back to their table.

"Did you hear them? They were awesome!" "What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I heard them! There were surround sound speakers!" "Why are they running like that?" They heard many comments as they hurried back to their table, but ignored them in their run.

"Ah screw this, TIME!" Yan drew his sword and froze time. The group at the table immediately got out of their seats and drew out their weapons. "Crap, forgot Dark Forces are impervious to frozen time... SAKURA! IT'S FOLLOWING US!"

"Hoe?"

"DARK FORCE! GET YOUR FREAKING STAFF OUT!" Yan and Syaoran drew out their swords as they glanced around, scanning the room for the force. Why didn't it attack yet? What kind of Dark Force have no offensive capabilities whatsoever? "SAKURA! HURRY UP! ONLY YOU CAN DEAL WITH IT!"

_Why me? _"Dark Force, reveal yourself!" Sakura lifted her Star Staff, pink light shining from the pink emblem.

_"Card Mistress..."_

"Hoe??"

_"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I'm The Heal. I will join your side._"_'__  
__  
_ "Hoe??"

_"But... you have to catch me first..."_

"Sakura? What's going on?" Syaoran glanced around uneasily. He hated being in the dark.

"A Force... we have to catch it!" Sakura closed her eyes, scanning the room with her magic. There was a presence in the room that was similar to the ones that confronted her in the dream, but where?

_"You're going to have to actually move if you want to catch me."_

"Meilin! Compass! Now!" Sakura pulled out two cards, Dash and Jump, and prepared herself for a chase.

"What? Oh right. Imperial king of gods, Your divinity watches over the four corners: Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, thunder, wind, lightning, whirling blade of light, I summon thee!" Meilin snatched out her compass, blue light shot out, pointing to the microphone on stage.

"Got it!" Sakura jumped across the room, landing gracefully on the stage. The presence vanished, along with the blue light. "Crap! My spell was cut off. Sorry Saks."

_Where the hell is it? Focus Sakura..._ There! In the corner of the room! Sakura jumped once again, just to feel the presence vanish. _This is even worse than the Move card!_

* * *

The night went on and on, as Sakura continued her endless pursuit of the Heal card. Until finally...

"THAT'S IT I GIVE UP!"

_"Awww... OK, I'll join you now.. Hehe that was fun."__  
__  
_"Hoe??"

"Sakura? What happened?" Syaoran inquired, wondering why Sakura was just staring blankly at a wall. _Perhaps she cracked..._

"I think-" A white orb of light appeared in front of her, and materialized as a card. "The... Heal?"

THUNK! Yan cursed as he felt a powerful blow hit his head. Lily had punch him in the head, and was swearing loudly. "IT WASN'T EVEN A DANGEROUS FORCE! WHY DID YOU GET US ALL WORRIED LIKE THAT? IT'S THE FREAKING HEAL, ALL IT DOES IS HEAL PEOPLE! IT TOOK THAT LONG JUST TO..."

"How the hell would I know? I just sensed a Dark Force! And who cares? We got another Light Force on our side now! Who cares if it's a bit... playful?"

"UNFREEZE TIME ALREADY! I'M HUNGRY!"

"OK OK! Women..."

"WANT TO SAY THAT IN MY FACE AGAIN?"

"OK. Wo-men. Women. Women, women women."

"YAN! DO YOU WANT TO LIVE PAST THE NIGHT?" Tomoyo, Meilin and Lily were starting to gang up on the Demon Master. Steam were blowing out of their ears, their faces red with anger.

"You want me to freeze you all in time? I'm not scared, I went through hell and back. You really think you can par up with that?"

"YOU ARE THE MOST INSENSITIVE, THE MOST ANNOYING-"

Syaoran sighed. _This is going to be a loooong night..._ More like an endless night.

**AN** Yes, I know, quite a dull and fast chapter. I wanted to scratch out this arc entirely, but there is going to be two very awesome conflicts coming up. One is a massive battle between many dark forces, and one is with the combined forces of Death and Fate, very similar to Final Destination movies. Those will be fun... The song, in a way symbolizes this story. So why all these subplots? To pull away some characters from the main plot, or else things will get too easy for the group. Later. Menglong.


	19. New Missions, Gravity Trouble

AN: Repeating myself, these chapters will be moving fast. I really want to get back to the main plot line, but these parts are necessary. I know I am updating late, but I've been really busy these days.

Many points to bring up. One, the changing of names. Why? A name represents personality, and a switch presents an illusions, lies, deception. That's all I will say about it.

Winter break has come to an end, and school has once again began... another year... another adventure...

**Dark Fate Ch 19 - An Eventful First Day**

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Sakura groaned as her alarm clock went off, _Five more minutes... just five more... what time is it anyways..._

"HOEEEEE!!" Sakura's scream echoed throughout the house, and everyone downstairs sighed. Everything is back to normal. Loud thumps could be heard upstairs, and even more noise was made when Sakura came sprinting down the stairs, putting on her blue school jacket, and charged into the dining room. Everyone has already finished eating breakfast and were getting ready to leave. _So that's why Touya calls her monster. She can be quite loud._ "HOEEEEE! CAN'T BE LATE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" Syaoran grinned as he watched Sakura mow down her breakfast at record time. _I wonder if she even takes time to chew..._ Eriol, Meilin, Tomoyo and Lily were already waiting outside for Sakura, and Yan went out, saying that he will meet them at school. Sakura chugged down her orange juice, grabbed her backpack, and sprinted out the door. "COME ON SYAORAN, WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" _I wonder if she remembers that I can teleport us if we are late..._

* * *

_I need to get out more often, being cooped up in the house with books can't be good for my health. Jeez, the only real exercise I get these days are battles and training. Maybe I should join a sport or something..._ Yan was walking around Tomoeda before school started, just to relieve some stress. He spent the remnants of his break going through all the books in his library a few times over, trying to find anything helpful. He had no idea what he was looking for, but he wanted to find something. A spell, a fact, something that can give them a slight advantage in some future problem. He memorized every word in those books that he collected over the century, but why? What's the point? There was nothing there that could help him. Help him for what? Why is he being so paranoid? He has to take his mind off it. _I need to find a building to climb..._

* * *

"Calm down Sakura, we're going to make it to school on time." Syaoran attempted to slow Sakura down, as Sakura was accelerating ahead of the rest of the pack with her roller skates.

"OK, OK... where's Yan anyways?"

"He says he is going to meet us at school. We all have the same classes."

"Can you believe we are third years? One more year then we're off to college!" Meilin was clearly anxious to get out of high school already.

"Well, you still have to get passed this one year Meilin."

"Shut up Syaoran..."

* * *

Yan ran across the roof of a building, and as he approached the edge, he leaped off and landed on the next building. At the split second that his foot made contact with the next roof, he flipped again, flying across the entire roof without ever touching the ground. He was about to leap again when he felt a magical disturbance... It wasn't demons, it wasn't a dark force... it was normal magic. "Time! Slow!" Freezing time would completely cut off the source of magic, but slowing it wouldn't. He scanned his surroundings, trying to find the source. After a few seconds of glancing around, he found what the source was. A fancy red sports car on the street next to the building has been immobilized and locked down by magic, in the middle of a crossroad, and four large black SUVs with extremely tinted windows were driving right at it. _Why doesn't anyone stop? Can't they see... oh great, an assassination attempt. No bystanders? Guess I should intervene..._ He couldn't freeze time entirely without drawing any attention on the cameras., so...

"Aw hell." Yan leaped off the roof, landing gracefully on the road, making sure to land somewhere without a camera, and ran towards the car. The SUVs were twenty-five feet away. He grabbed the door, finding it to be locked... so he ripped it off. The SUVs were twenty feet away There was only on passenger, the driver, an unconscious young teenage blond girl.

"Hey, wake up!... Oh jeez. Why me?" He quickly unbuckled her seat belt, and grabbed the girl, carrying her bridal style. "This could happen to Syaoran, this could happen to Eriol, this could even happen to freaking Touya, but who does Fate pick on? ME! Even when I'm a freaking immortal, Fate somehow... I hate her..." Ten feet away. He jumped out of the intersection and towards the safety of the sidewalk. He landed and removed his time spell. The four cars collided the sports car, and exploded. _Well that's interesting... getting rid of the actual evidence, but ensuring the cameras caught it as an accident..._ These guys were good, he had to admit, but not as good as him. He put the girl on the sidewalk, putting a ward around her as he walked towards the accident. In order to cause an explosion like that, explosives must have been placed on the front bumper. These guys are pretty serious about wanting this girl dead, plus they had the assistance of magic... not strong magic, but magic nevertheless. Who could have done the magic? A crowd began to gather, observing the incident. His thoughts were disrupted by another speeding black SUV, rushing towards him. It was too close, too fast, he couldn't move the girl and him out of the way in time. Casting magic would draw too much attention, so he did the dumbest thing possible, he braced himself and slammed into the car. He felt the metal collide against his body, but brushed it off easily. Only magic can hurt an immortal, so he didn't even budge a centimeter when the car hit him. He observed this vehicle, surprised to see no driver.

_What's the sound? And why didn't this car explode like the others... oh sh-_ He grabbed the girl and covered her body with his. The car exploded, sending a deafening roar into his ears. Fire scorched his back, singing his clothes. Shards of glass landed a few cuts on his arms and legsd. It ended as quickly as it happened, Yan stood back up and turned to see the blazing car in front of him. _These guys are serious._ He heard the girl behind him beginning to stir, so he turned to check on her. The girl groaned as she sat up, revealing her sky blue eyes.

"MENG?"

"Oh jeez, it's you Aki." Aki Aiko, the spoiled brat... great. _I guess she was serious about those assassination attempts._ Yan ignored all the murmurs from the gathered crowd. "If I knew, I wouldn't have bothered saving you."

"What?"

"I'm outta here." Yan walked away from Aki, and seemed to vanish in the thin air.

"Huh? What?... MY CAR!"

* * *

"Where's Yan? He's gonna be late!" Meilin was worried about the missing link of their chain of friends, fearful of more trouble with demons. Everyone was in the same class, 12-3, every desk was filled except for two. Other familiar faces were in the room, such as Takashi, Chiharu, Naoko and Rika.

"Worried about me Strawberry Bell (Meilin translated)?" Yan just happened to walk in at that statement. He threw his backpack on his desk next to Syaoran and next to the window. He collapsed on his chair, seeming irritated. His new blue school jacket was slightly burned, and his black long pants were ripped.

"Hell no demon boy. Where the hell were you? And what the hell happ-"

"Had an interesting run in, _someone_ almost got assassinated." This drew everyone's attention. An assassination is not everyday news in their world. Sure they had massive life-death battles, but an actual assassination on someone else besides them?

"Who, you?" Everyone stared blankly at Meilin's stupidity. Yan smacked himself in the head before replying.

"If it was me, it wouldn't be almost. It wouldn't even be close."

"So, who?" Meilin's question was answered quite quickly as Aki stomped into the room, fuming with steam blowing out of her ears. She was mumbling, a bit could be heard here and there. "Ugh... morons... brand new car... is going to kill me..."

"That brat? Someone finally tried to end her miserable existence?" Though Meilin's words seem cruel, most of the gang seem to agree.

"Apparently, she was serious when she talked about assassination attempts."

"So what happened?"

"I saved her from getting her snobby little face all smashed up." Yan said those words rather calmly, as if that was a normal deed, saving someone from getting killed.

"Huh? WHY?"

"I didn't know it was her, or else I would have left her for dead... and why is she staring at me like that?" Everyone turned to see a pair of blue eyes staring at Yan, Aki quickly turned away when she realized that she was caught looking. "Well that was weird."

Before their conversation could go any longer, their teacher walked in the room.

"Class! I know this is your last year, but you still must work hard. My first announcement is about our Senior trip..." Everyone in the class gave a happy whoop. "Yes, I know I know. This year, we will be staying at a ghost town that has been rebuilt and modernized."

"GHOST TOWN??" Sakura was panicking when she heard 'ghost'. Despite not fearing the greatest nightmares of demons, she still can get over her phobia of harmless ghosts.

""Please calm down Ms. Kinomoto. There are no such thing as ghosts." Yan snickered, if Touya was here, he would disagree.

"Did you know-" "Mr. Yamakazi! Let me finish! This vacation will be at the beginning of summer break, and we will reside at the hotel there. It'll pretty much be a free week of fun. Now enough of that. Time for class."

* * *

**Lunch**

"Ugh, I hate school! Why did you guys make me come to school!" Lily threw herself on the grass, pulling her lunch out of her backpack. The gang has gathered at the sakura trees on the school's field. "Seriously! I know all of this stuff already!"

"And Syaoran, Eriol and I don't?" Yan retorted as he jumped onto a tree branch to sit, "Life sucks, deal with it... and why the hell is she still staring at me?" His outburst frightened everyone at first, since they rarely see Yan lose his composure. Sakura glanced around to see a pair of blue eyes looking their way. "Jeez, Aki is pretty adamant at staring at you."

"Why the _hell_ isn't my 'Stay the hell away from me' aura working?" Yan groaned, if the brattiest girl on campus has taken interest in him, who else would? "Ugh, great. Hey Lily, how involved were you in the business of the Lin clan?"

"Huh? Er, I didn't do much with the clan, I pretty much had nothing to do with them. All I did was train until a certain boy reappeared in Japan. They prided themselves in their secrecy."

"I see.. so you don't know what businesses they are involved in?"

"Nope."

"Hmph." Yan silently sat there, lost in his thoughts as a small girl with brown hair and eyes approached him. Her friends were standing a few feet away, hiding behind another tree, watching but not daring to come any closer to the dangerous Chinese boy. "Huh, what the hell do you want?"

"Um... my name is Mai Hikaru... I heard you sing at the _Endless Night_... and... er..." Mai nervously stared at her feet, not wanting to look at Yan.

"Well, spit it out. Don't have all day here."

"Doyouwantojoinourmusiclub?" Mai mumbled her words out quickly, she was still staring at her shoes.

"... Come again?" Mai took a deep breath, exhaled and talked slower, her voice trembling with each letter.

"Do you want to join our music club?"

"WHAT?" CRASH. Yan fell off the tree in shock, but managed to land safely with his sharp reflexes. "Why the hell would I-"

"That's a great idea! We need a boy for the singing competition!" Tomoyo leaped up in excitement. '"Of course he will join."

"Wait one freaking minute, Tomoyo Dai-"

"Don't worry, he'll join."

"WHAT??"

"Thanks Tomoyo! Need to tell the rest of the club!" Mai ran off before Yan can even speak a word. Syaoran patted him on his back, "Sucks to be you."

"Tomoyo! What the hell was that? Eriol, talk some sense into your girlfriend!"

"No thank you. Just go with the flow. I already got sucked in to play the piano." Eriol's smart enough to not cross his girlfriend.

"What flow? What the fu-"

"Yan, I'm the president of the music club, and we're going to compete with other schools next month. Like it or not, you're competing. Syaoran, if you try to stop me, I'll drag you in too." Tomoyo emphasized the last bit, ensuring Syaoran gets the message. Yan sighed in defeat, Syaoran patting his back once more. "Really sucks to be you."

* * *

Sakura was absent-mindedly flipping through her new Sakura cards as her friends bickered around her. "Fear... Courage.. _They are feelings of some type._ Why are they helping her? Why is there a schism among these forces? Are they controlled by a gre- _What's that strange presence? It's similar to the one at the resteraunt... Another Force!_ "Syaoran, there is another Dark Force here!" Syaoran swore at the news. _They don't let up!_

"Time! Halt!" Yan froze time for the group, but shook his head when they all drew out his weapons. "Put 'em awat, this is as far as we'll help her. She needs to beat them on her own." _She'll be fine, she felt the force before I did._ Sakura nodded as she released her Star Staff. "JUMP!" Little wings sprouted out of her shoes as she leaped away to search for the Dark Force... but she leaped to an abnormally high height. "HOEEEEE, I'm not coming down!"

"What?" Sakura was right, she was continuing floating upwards, with no sign of coming down. "Scratch that, help Sakura NOW! Syaoran, you and me are still going to stay out of this."

"Wind! Come to my aid!" Meilin pulled out her sword and threw out an ofuda, catching Sakura from moving any farther with a controlled gust of wind. Lily pulled out her bow and attempted to jump to the top of the school building, but when she tried, all she managed was a little bunny hop. "What the hell? I can't even move!"

"Eriol!" Tomoyo shrieked when she saw her boyfriend was floating away as he struggled to get back to the ground. "What kind of force is this?"

Yan fought the urge to laugh, "It's affecting gravity. This should be fun."

"HEY MENG, HELP US HERE!" Meilin began to float around randomly as well, and was clearly pissed about it.

"No, I think I'll watch this time. You guys can handle it."

"Screw you Yan. Ugh, Lightening! Come to my aid!" Meilin drew out another ofuda, sending lightening bolts at the demon master. Yan simply raised a palm and stopped the attacks midair. "Focus your attacks on the source of the force idiot."

"You're dead demon boy..." Meilin pulled out her compass, and began chanting the incantation. "Imperial king of gods, Your divinity watches over the four corners Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, Thunder, wind, lightning, Whirling blade of light, I summon thee!" Blue light struck at the rooftop of the high school building. A gargoyle stood on the rooftop, emitting magic from its stone body. "There! Sakura!"

"Hai!" Sakura was holding onto a sakura tree to stop from floating off into space. She pushed off focusing at the building... but halfway through she began to plummet incredibly fast. "FLOAT!" A pink bubble surrounded Sakura stopping her fall... inches away from the ground. "It's messing with the gravity! I can't get to it! Any advice Syaoran?"

"Attack it directly then." Both immortals were just sitting on the sakura tree branches, unaffected by the Gravity, having a good laugh at the show in front of them. Lily drew out her bow, and fired an arrow. "Arrow Rain! Explosion!" A barrage of explosive arrows flew towards the gargoyle. It sent out a pulse of magic, and the arrows were sent away at random directions. "Crap!" Sakura tried to jump again, but once again, she starting floating off into the skies. "Dang it! Thund- HOE!" Gravity once again worked its magic, and she began to plummet even faster. She couldn't pull out any other cards in time, so she just braced for the impact... but it never came.

"Sakura! Come on!" Syaoran caught her in midair and landly gracefully on the ground. _It felt so nice in his arms..._ "Right..."

"Tomoyo, use your shield to block off the gravity! Lily, move! Lightening!" Electricity exploded from his staff and struck the gargoyle dead on, but it didn't seem to faze it much. "Sakura, we will distract it! Get close and seal it! Fire!" A barrage of flames shot out of his Sun Staff at shot at the Dark Force, but an orb of darkness formed a barrier around it, a gravity field. The fireballs shot at every direction except the gargoyle, forcing the group to dodge.

"Wind, come to my aid!" A tornado blasted out of Meilin's sword, driving full force at the gargoyle. It was a direct hit, but the attack only stunned it, but it was enough for Lily to get a clear shot. "Fire Arrow Rain!" Another rain of fire arrows struck the Dark Force, but they fell far from their target. "DANG IT! I need to get closer! None of my shots will connect at a range!"

"Sakura! Wait for us to weaken or trap it!" Eriol raised his staff, chanting another incantation. "Nosferatu!" A large dark shadow appeared under the gargoyle, and enveloped it whole, snaring it in its grip. The Gravity struggled to break from its chains, but failed miserably. Lily took her opportunity, and fired an explosive arrow right at its head.

"SAKURA! NOW!" Sakura leaped onto the roof with Jump, and swung her staff. "Dark Force! Return to your power confined! Sakura Card!" The gargoyle roared as it began to vanish, a card taking its place. The Gravity was sealed.

* * *

"Sir, someone has intervened with our assassination of Aki's daughter."

"Is that so? Do we know who?"

"No sir, Mr. Aki destroyed the tapes of the incident. We've little idea of what happened."

"I see, but we know one thing, the person has magic. Mr. Aki might recruit the person as a bodyguard."

"What should be done sir?"

"Go all out. Aki will pay for defying the Lin Clan."

* * *

_Stupid locker... what was my combination again? Stupid school._ Lily glared at her locker as it refused to budge.

"Having a little trouble there?" Lily turned to see a group of guys approaching... no... _hitting_ on her. How. Dare. They. "Back off if you guys want children... if you live long enough." The venom in her tone was palpable, her every word was sharp as a sword. Their leader, a big guy named Midori Akira, ignored her response, and continued to approach her.

"Aw, come on, we just want to have a little fun." Lily shivered at his disgusting words. "You have five seconds to run away with your tails between your legs, or you will go flying our that window. Five..." Lily pointed at the large open window near the locker. They were on the second floor.

The boys around her laughed at her threat, and stepped closer. "Four, three, two..." They were all barely touching her now. "One." Lily grabbed Midori's arm and twisted it. Before he can even react, she elbowed his face, kneed his groin, and threw him out the window. The group didn't stand a chance, as it only took a few seconds before they all flew out of the window. "Bakas."

* * *

"Hey Yan, want to do soccer with Syaoran and me?" Eriol was bugging Yan to join the soccer team, despite the immortal having no experience in any sport.

"Why do I need more workouts? I already train for five hours every morning."

"Come on, it's a team thing."

"That part is a problem. Anyways, I have no experience in the sport!"

"Just try out!"

"Fine, if it shuts you up..." Yan followed Eriol to the soccer field, where a group of boys were practicing and warming up. "Let me observe the sport for a bit." Yan watched as boys dribbled, kicked, and blocked. He pulled out his laptop from his backpack and began looking up soccer on Google. Syaoran, Eriol and Takashi were captains, so they were the examiners.

Tryouts began with everyone going one at a time, demonstrating their skill in offense, stealing, dribbling, passing and blocking. The coach scrutinized each player with a close eye, making notes on his clipboard as each player tried out. Yan too was observing the sport, and began doing calculations in his head.

"Meng Yan!" _Here we go._ Yan walked up to the field, and stepped next to the ball. "First, dribble pass the obstacles!" Yan took a bit getting used to the ball, making the coach impatient. "Meng, do you even know how to play soccer."

"Actually, no." At this, Yan shot forward with the ball, dribbling it around the cones and across the field, surprising the watchers.

* * *

"Hey Lily, was Yan always good at sports?" Tomoyo, Sakura, Meilin and Lily were doing cheerleading, and were watching the soccer tryouts. Tomoyo was filming it.

"No idea. But he's a genius at math and crap like that." _That idiot never cease to surprise us..._

* * *

"OK, now get passed the soccer team and try to score. We measure by how close you get." Yan snorted as the current soccer team excluding the captains entered the field, all prepared to stop the Chinese boy from getting anywhere near the goal. "This is your last one, then we can get the hell out of here!"

"Is that so?"

"Begin!" Yan gave the ball a powerful kick, and it launched into the air, spinning. To much of everyone's surprise, it curved around the various blockers, and flew straight into the goal. "Can I go now?" Yan walked away leaving an astonished crowd.

* * *

"KAMI, SCHOOL IS A BIT-" School was finally over for the day, and none of the sports had officially started, as there were only tryouts today.

"Jeez Lily, one day and already dying from school?" Yan just loving teasing his sister in law's reincarnation (Sounds like something from Space Balls..), since she always reacted the same way...

"WHAT? YOU WANT TO SA-" Lily's tirade was interrupted by Yan's ringtone. Yan pulled out his sleek black Meizu MiniOne and looked at screen. "Phone Number Disclosed." _Well that's interesting._

"What?" Yan rudely accepted the call, irritated and interested in who would call him. He waved everyone else off, signaling for them to go ahead and leave him behind to talk in private.

"Meng Yan?"

"Don't have all day here. What the hell do you want, and how did you get my number?"

"This is Aki of Aki Science Corp. I need your help." The man's voice was full of desperation, Yan could feel the emotions flowing through the phone. He pulled out a water bottle and began drinking before he replied.

"Why the hell would I help you?"

"Not me, my daughter. I believe you are fam-"

"Yea, yea I know her. Now, again, why the HELL would I help her?"

"I need your help. Please, she's in extreme danger."

"You're avoiding the question."

"Have you ever heard of the Lin clan?" At this point, Yan was choking on his water. _Fate has it in for me today... that bastard._

* * *

"HOEEEE! So much math homework! It's only the first day!" Sakura frantically flipped through the dozen of pages of her calculus homework. "Our teacher is insane!"

"Relax Sakura, it isn't so bad."

"It's not fair, how did you finish all your homework during lunch Syaoran?" Rather than socializing with friends, Syaoran and Yan had spent their lunchtime cooped up in the library doing their homework, and finished by the end of lunch. The librarian was amazed at the speed of their writing, scribbling down the pages of work. One student swore that they saw smoke coming from the tip of their pencils.

"They were easy, it's all review."

"Then, dear cousin, HELP US!!" Meilin, too was showing strain from the homework as she erased the problem she was working on. "How come I'm not as smart as you? We're related!"

"DNA doesn't work like that. Why don't you ask for help? Tomoyo and Eriol are almost done. Lily looks like she is halfway through..."

"I'm a LI! I don't need help!" It took a while before Meilin realized what she said, so Syaoran walked away, waiting for...

"WAIITTT!! I TAKE THAT BACK! I NEED HEEEELP!! SYAORAN!!"

* * *

"Aki Science Corp... What a crappy name." Yan entered a large white building and instantly drew many stares. Not that many teenagers walk into such an important building, and not to mention he was dressed as if he was going to make some trouble. All black, with many many concealed swords. He glared back at the various employees, wondering where the hell was his appointment. Finally, he was greeted by a tall man. He had dark black hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a formal suit with a tie, and most likely have a bullet proof vest under it. _Like it'll do any good against magic._

"Mr. Meng? I'm Aki." Aki offered his hand, which Yan shooked lazily. "Thank you for coming. Please follow me."

_Be careful, this could be a trap._ Yan kept both of his hands next to a sword, his left one gripping to a long thin sword, similar to a katana. The other was a large broadsword. They walked for a bit before approaching an elevator. Aki waved his keycard in front of a sensor, and typed a long and complicated password into a keyboard. He was trying to conceal the password, but Yan caught it anyways. **The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.** Ironic. But jeez that's a long password. They entered the elevator, and they began to plummet.

"So you'll take the job?"

"If you hold up your end of the bargain."

"Right, anything for my daughter."

"Are you sure that the Lin clan won't go after you?"

"Positive."

"Very well. How many hours a day?"

"Twenty four."

"I see... WHAT? I have to stay by her side all freakin-"

"Please Meng. We don't know when the Lin clan will strike."

"Even in the shower?"

"Yes..."

"You're one strange father, I gotta tell you that."

"All for her safety."

"Ever considered a girl bodyguard?"

"They all died."

"Great..."

The elevator stopped, and the two men got out. They walked down a white hallway, and went through a dozen security checkpoints. Until finally, they entered a laboratory. In the center was a very familiar stone. Yan grabbed it and placed it in his pocket, and turned to face Aki. "Trust me, you really don't want to get involved with this stone."

"What is it?"

"A lodestone."

--Flashback--

"Our science team has made an interesting discovery... the Lin clan demanded that I surrender the company to them or else."

"What is it?"

"A strange stone with curious energy..."

"Oh shi-"

**AN:** Ok, I'm unsure about the whole music thing actually being a subplot, I just put it in to torture Yan a bit P. Some comic relief will do some good. Yea, Fate really has it against Yan... all comical relief. So he's busy with other stuff, the remaining gang will be sealing new forces. Good luck to them!


	20. Diary of Memories, The Chase

AN: Whew! I am actually, on time! Of course, this took quite a while to write... but anyways, this very short arc is pretty much half over... Time for Sakura to catch up with Syaoran and Yan P. Something seems missing from this chapter... but what...

Anyways, I'm being busy, working for TheSakuraProject, and preparing for school (. I will write as fast as I can.

Thanks to AngelEmCuti, fiasse, and AnimeManga4evah.

The week continued with school, but things got much more annoying for Yan. He was stuck to an annoying brat for four days, unable to leave her side for a second, not to mention he has to her hang out with HER friends... if you could call them that. Most people at school were quite surprised of the arrangement.

Of course Aiko didn't like it either, so she just did her best to bother him. Yan clearly hated life for those days, being dragged around by a spoiled brat, having to carry her crap when she goes shopping for five hours nonstop. Then again, this gave Yan an excuse to get out of a certain music club ran by a certain raven haired girl, but he had to drop out of the soccer team.

Sakura, Meilin, and Lily joined the cheerleading squad, Eriol and Syaoran started their soccer training, while Tomoyo has all of her clubs. Busy bunch aren't they?

Meanwhile, no new Forces appeared, so the rest of the gang had a good break despite the mountains of homework. Finally, the weekend arrived, but what a busy weekend it'll be...

**Chapter 20: Diary of Memories, The Chase**

Saturday morning - 4 AM

It was quiet at the Li residence. Sakura was snoozing her head off, with Kero laying next to her pillow. Meilin seemed to be in a deep coma, mumbling something along the lines of 'I'll kill that bastard'. Syaoran was peacefully meditating in his room, closing his mind off from the world. Everyone else was sleeping peacefully, except for Yan, who was carrying his unconscious client back to her room, muttering 'stupid spoiled brat' over and over again. No one noticed a card floating into the house, and into Yan's library. No one knew that a book had appeared on one of the many shelves: The Diary of Memories.

In Paris, a rabbit was hopping around. A white light surrounded it, then it disappeared. It reappeared in Syria. The presence abandoned the rabbit, seeking more entertainment. Something larger. Something interesting. It wants a challenge.

* * *

"Hey dimwit, wake up." Yan yelled into a certain sleeping spoiled brat's ear, not hesitating to go all out. "You and your other brainless minions are going to quote hang out unquote in two hours, and that was your decision. Last I checked, you take two hours to get ready for anything, and maybe more when you go hangout. If you call maxing out your parents' credit cards hanging out..."

"Ergh... go to hell." Aiko simply pulled the covers over her head, trying to fall back to sleep. She claims to require twelve hours of sleep daily, and typically needs every minute."It's too early."

"It's two pm. Not my fault you were out partying until four am. Now get up before I drag you out of there."

"I dare you to try." Yan sighed, They always want it the hard way... I hate this job, but I don't back off promises... He grabbed one end of Aiko's blanket, and in one swift motion, he pulled it off with little effort. She sat up quickly, her face red with anger.

"Hey! What the-" Yan grabbed her arm, and dragged her into her private bathroom. "Do whatever you girls do, I took responsibility for you. That apparently, was STUPID. I'm supposed to be your bodyguard, not your servant."

"Bodyguard? YOU? HAH! I bet you can't hurt a fly!" Aiko slammed the bathroom door in Yan's face (She has yet to seen him fight at all, and clearly doubt his abilities), and he could hear the sink running. Finally.

_Bring back the demons... they didn't give me migraines... _Yan rubbed his temples with his fingers. His patience is starting to wear thin.

* * *

"YAY IT'S THE WEEKEND! NO MORE SCHOOL!" Sakura was bounding down the stairs, cheerfully awake, while everyone was groggily walking down the stairs at a snail's pace. Syaoran already finished cooking in the kitchen, and said something about checking out the library. Touya, Nakuru and Yukito once again were at the hospital, despite the weekend. "Let's eat! The let's got to the water park! We haven't been there for a long time!"

_Boy, Sakura really recovered from her loss... or is she just hiding it? She must realize that lives will be lost... This is war... or is it? The Demons have yet to strike at the public... is this just the beginning?_

* * *

Yan paced around in the large dining room of the Aki household, waiting for his client to finish taking her sweet time in getting ready. Mrs. Aki was already eating, and pretty much ignored his presence. Mr. Aki ran off quite early due to some issues at his business.

After a good five minutes of waiting, Aiko finally entered the room, and sat herself down at the dining table. She was dressed in a white tanktop and skirt, along with high heels. Not quite the appropriate outfit, especially if they get attacked.

"About time."

"Shut up, trash."

"You know, you may think you are royalty and all, but you really are a royal pain in the-"

"Please dears, watch your language." Mrs. Aki finally spoke up for the first time that week. she really is an old fashioned 'proper' lady. "Please, filter your mouths a bit."

"Sorry ma'am." Yan bowed to Mrs. Aki, then turned back to Aiko. Time for plan B. "You, are a royal pain in the bleep, and have a bleep attitude. I'm sick of saving your bleep, every bleeping day. If you dare to cross me, I will beat the living beep out of you, then I am going to beep beep beep up your beep beep beep beep and then beep beep it. Got it you beep?"

"Uh... come again?"

"Sorry, that's the best I can do under these circumstances. Just say you are FUBAR." (F'd up beyond all recognition)

"Don't you dare use acronyms on me!"

"Is that so? Well, LMAO, you belong in AAAAA, since your mind has been AWOL for years. AISB, you AKA queen beep, AFAIC, can GOOML. GWATCDR, you will be outta here. And-" (Laugh my a' off, AAAAA can mean a travel club for alcoholics, Away without leave, As I said before, as known as, As far as I'm concerned, Get out of my life, God willing and the creek don't rise. whew!)

"SHUT UP!"

"Make me you beep, always CLAB? Boy, am I COTFLMAOAHAHA-" (crying like a baby, crawling on the floor laughing my a' off and having a heart attack. Not much of an acronym...)

"ARGH!" Yan smirked as Aiko fumed. Just because he has to protect her, that doesn't mean he can't thoroughly piss her off.

* * *

Syaoran flipped through the various books in the library. He moved all the books that were intact from his mansion in China to here, and he was searching through them again. Once again, he had no idea what he was looking for... yet something in him is telling him to find a book. What book though?

He first scanned through a book on magical protection. An interesting paragraph caught his mind.

_Thresholds are barriers or borders that keep evil magic away. It protects a home, not a house, of a family with a strong bond. It takes family memories, emotions and love to power such a barrier, and is even there in mortal homes. Such thresholds keep out vampires and other evil spirits, but even those with magic, unless they are invited in. They are not invincible, it will at most deplete or weaken a powerful force, but not stop it. See pg 18 for more information on Vampires, pg 20 for werewolves..._

Interesting... but won't do us much good, Ragnarok is too strong. Hm, werewolves... I would like to meet one one day. He moved on to the next book, finding an unfamiliar presence.

"The Diary of Memories..." He cracked open the cover, and was consumed in blinding light.

* * *

Yan felt a tremor of power, coming from his house. His first instinct was to stop time and check on it, but his client and her legion of followers was making it hard for him to do... anything. They were laughing and gossiping and shopping nonstop. It was hard enough to watch one of these brats, but SIX? Count 'em, six annoying beeps. Just kill him and end his misery. Not to mention the suit he was wearing was itchy as hell. This must be revenge for the morning torture.

He struggled to push through the crowds in the Tokyo Mall to keep up with group of blabbermouths, his hands at the hilts of his swords. He was sure he heard a sword being unsheathed. Scratch that, many swords being unsheathed. "Rayearth, help me out here. Guard the mall entrance." Yan felt his demon wolf vanish from within him. No way in hell is he going to let Lin clan win, even if it will do the world a great justice.

* * *

"Huh. That's weird." Syaoran glanced around, scanning the area around him. It was a grassy area, most likely the backyard of a large house."This is the Li Clan Mansion... and... is that..." A small boy, no more than seven years old, with chocolate brown hair and amber eyes appeared before him, holding a talisman in his right hand . He walked towards another man in the yard, with a striking resemblance, carrying a silver sword. "Me?"

_The other man turned to face the boy. Syaoran didn't even have to recognize his face, the magical presence was enough. "DAD?" I thought he died when I was a baby... Syaoran watched the scene unfold in front of him. I need to be careful, this is a strange force, it must be strong to affect me. What is it?_

_"The power... it feels good..."_

_"Dad?"_

_"So good... DIE!" Lightening exploded from the man's left hand, striking randomly around the yard. It's untamed and uncontrolled, so the boy was able to block it. "So good..."_

_"Dad... I'm sorry." The boy drew his sword from his talisman and charged. He pulled out an ofuda, and chanted, "God of Fire, come to my aid!"_

_Flames met lightening as the seven year old boy fought his father in hand to hand combat. Magic was shot at each other occasionally, but mainly swords were used. Metal clashed with metal, but the seven year old boy had the disadvantage of size and training, not to mention power. Xiao Lang dodged most of the attacks, but was clearly being overwhelmed. Every blow he blocked wore him down, while the man's strength seemed to be endless._

_"Dad! Snap out of it!" The boy winced as his father's sword cut his left shoulder. The man knocked the sword out of the yard, and pointed his weapon at his son. "Dad!"_

_The man seemed to realized what he had done, he had tried to kill his own son. Sanity managed to seep through, but not for long. "Xiao Lang... Kill me... the Dragons... are too strong... NOW!" He threw his sword to his son, who caught it with ease. It was as if the sword was built for him. "Kill me."_

_"Dad... we can work this out... we can"_

_"NOW!" The man charged at his son once again. "SALAMANDRA!" A wave of flame blasted toward Xiao Lang, but the boy vanished. He reappeared right behind his father, and stabbed him. Shock etched on the child's face. "What did I do?"_

The scene went blank... and another appeared. His mother and some Elders appeared in front of him.

_"How is Xiao Lang?"_

_"He's exhausted. I'm sorry this has happened."_

_"What now?"_

_"We'll have to wipe his memory... it'll have side effects, but we still need him. The sword reacted for him. The sword protected him. We were wrong, his father wasn't the destined Dragon Master, it was his son. They both had the same name after all..."_

_"But my son-" What was the emotions on his mother face? Fear? Worry?_

_"He'll need some training first. We'll dispatch him when the Clow Cards are released. Our seers foresaw the next Card Mistress. He can hone is powers there."_

_"But he will die!" _Syaoran raised an eyebrow. They knew this early?

_"If he truly is the Chosen, he will survive." Great..._

* * *

"Aw crap, where the hell am I?" Lily glanced at her surroundings, turning her head frantically. It looks awfully like... oh no. A young girl walked right through Lily, whispers and mutters could be heard directed to the young girl.

"The reincarnation of that failure..."

"Couldn't even FIND the Demon Master."

"Pointless, waste of a life."

"Another failure..."

"Her magic is so weak..."

"I heard that she's going to be disowned."

The scene changed to a dark room, the young Lily crying on her bed. Another scene of the young girl training, ignoring more whispers and insults. Another scene. The younger Lily was eavesdropping over a discussion.

"The Demon Master made an appearance in Japan, in a place called Tomoeda..."

The past Lily was now sneaking into yet another dark room. Inside, a shiny gold bow in the beak of a statue of a phoenix.

"Please, grant me your strength. I, Lin Lily, sign a contract with the Great Lin Clan Phoenix..."

* * *

"Hey, Li!"

"Oh, Lily it's you. How did you get here? Wait, I can ask myself same thing..."

"I saw a white light, and I did NOT go towards it..."

"Hm... this must be a dark force..."

"Then why only us two?"

"No idea... wait... Daidoji?" A familiar presence was near... and approaching fast.

* * *

"Stay away from my daughter! Stay away from us!"

"She's my child too. Hand her over, Sonomi."

"You bastard. Stay away from us."

"You can't stop me. I'm her father. I will have her or no one will. You have five seconds." A man drew out pistol from his jacket. "Five... Four..."

* * *

"EEEK!"

"Tomoyo! It's us!"

"Li?... Lily?... Where the hell are we?"

"Well you recovered fast. That scream shamed girls everywhere."

"Shut up Lily."

"Will you two quit it?"

"Sorry Li." "Sorry Syaoran."

* * *

"HOEEEE!" Sakura was falling... and falling... into... nothing. She was just... falling in an empty chasm. Why does this always happen to me? That was her last thought before everything went black.

* * *

"Sakura! Sakura! Earth to it!" Sakura blinked rapidly as her vision slowly returned. Why do I always find myself in this position? She saw that once again, she was being carried by none other than Li Syaoran.

"Welcome back to earth Sakura! Please! Take your time in sealing this dark force! We're in rush! We didn't go through anything traumatizing!" Lily said sarcastically.

"Hoe... where is it?" Syaoran pointed at a book in the middle of the strange place they were in.

"Dark Force! Return to your power confined! Sakura Card!" Yet another flash of light, and a new card was formed: The Memory.

* * *

"Thank kami we ditched that geek!"

"That freak was a pain!" Aki's five minions were giggling like a group of hyenas as they exited the mall, quite proud they managed to lose the bodyguard... not knowing he was five stories above them on the mall's roof.

"Seriously Aiko, your father must be nuts to hire that idiot. Why do you even need bodyguards anyway?" Speak of the devil. The girls continued to chatter away, being absolutely blind to the fact that a dozen cloaked figures has approached and surrounded them.

"Hey, idiots. Get the hell out of my way!" Aiko demanded, but they just ignored her. They simultaneously drew out a katana, and charged. It took a second for the girls to register that they were being attacked. Aiko screamed as a blade flew towards her but lucky for her (and unlucky for the rest of the world) the attack never connected.

A wall of flames erupted around the girls, bringing out more screams. A loud howl shattered the sound barrier as a flaming wolf appeared in front of them.

"Rayearth, show our friends a proper welcome." A loud thump was heard as Yan leaped off the roof and landed on the ground. On the way down, he ditched his tie and jacket, which came falling shortly after him. "AND CAN YOU GIRLS PLEASE STOP SCREAMING??"

The six girls were still screaming from the very unexpected events., but managed to shut up when Yan told them to. "Thank you! Now as for you twelve..." Yan turned to face the threats. "Let's go." Yan drew out his sword, and charged. The first assassin leaped at Yan, but Rayearth managed to intercept him and burned him to crisp. Yan slashed and sliced down at five more men, cutting them down quickly. The remaining six hesitated when half of their men was slaughtered, but they quickly regained their confidence when a dozen more shadows appeared. "Beep me." Yan turned to the group of girls. "Give me one minute." Speak of the devil, another dozen appeared. "Beep me sideways... Maybe two minutes. Come on. Don't have all day." His eyes changed from black to crimson red, then Yan and Rayearth leaped forward, ready to finish this.

* * *

Meilin was confused. She was peacefully eating breakfast with her friends when they all just vanished into thin air in a blinding white light, except for Eriol, who was busy staring at the front page of a newspaper.

"What... the... fuc-" Another flash of light, and...

"Whew! We're back. Well that's a weird experience." Lily commented as she stretched, as if she was confined into a small space for a long time. "Never again."

"Uh Sakura..." Tomoyo gave a strange smirk, "Why are you holding on to Syaoran?"

"Huh?... HOE!!" Everyone sighed as Sakura jumped away from Syaoran, who just shook his head.

"Cut it out guys, and check this out." Eriol threw his newspaper at Syaoran, who caught it with ease. He scanned the front page, muttering "A super-hurricane hits..."

"No, not that, the next page!" Syaoran raised an eyebrow when he found the article Eriol was speaking about.

Statue of Liberty disappeared, reappeared in Tokyo. There was a picture of the statue, upside down in the middle of the city.

"I think we should pay a little visit. Suit up everybody!" Syaoran order, drawing his sword from its pendant form. "We're going to Tokyo."

* * *

"Hey, get up." Aiko was curled up in a ball, on the verge of tears. She looked up to see a blood covered Yan, and stared at his blood red eyes. "They're gone. You know, I thought you would be used to this kind of thing."

"How... did you... I mean..."

"Just shut up, you are better off not knowing. Come on. I thought you dealt with this kind of stuff before."

"I did.. but... it felt so cold... so scary..."

"Hmph. You entered a world of chaos and darkness, you are involved in things beyond your wildest imagination." Yan glanced at the darkening sky. It's getting dark... there is a strong disturbance... "We better get going... Strange. What are they doing in Tokyo?"

"Huh?... Who?" Aiko was flabbergasted at how strange her bodyguard was acting. "What's going on?"

"Get back into the limo, get your friends, and head straight home." The threshold and my wards I set up should suffice.

"Hey! You're my bodyguard, and I dem-" Too late, Yan already vanished. "Ugh, I hate him!"

* * *

"You know? I always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty... this wasn't how I intended to see it..." Tomoyo sighed as she stared at the upside down statue in the middle of a large Tokyo Park. She took out her camera and started to film her surroundings, large crowds have been gathered. She focused a telepathic connection with Sakura, "There's nothing here, the force is long gone."

"Got it. Keep an eye out." Tomoyo 'hanged up', and glanced around worriedly. What could have possibly-

"What... the beep- er I mean hell are you doing here?" Yan tapped on Tomoyo's shoulder. She turned to her friend with a surprised look on her face."Where did you come from? I thought you have a 'job'?"

"Answer my question first. Where is... oh, here they come." Syaoran, Eriol and Sakura walked towards them. Meilin and Lily came running after them, carrying a 'few' souveniers.

"Yan, I thought you were stuck babysitting." Syaoran smirked. They just can't stop making fun of Yan.

"Oh beep, I mean, shut up."

"What's with the beeping?" Eriol asked.

"Old fashioned client."

"Right... you're definitiely not going insane." Lily rolled her eyes, and in sign language, signed "Psycho". Before Yan could lash out, a flashing pink light disrupted the dispute.

"Hoe?" Sakura pulled out a pink card, The Memory. It began to flash faster and faster, as if irritated. "Why is the card reacting?"

"No idea." Yan shrugged, "But we need to prioritize. The new force."

"Yea... about that..." Syaoran glanced around, making sure there were no unwanted eavesdroppers. "We have no idea where or what it is."

"Hmph, you guys are useless without me..." Yan drew out his sword, and sliced his palm. Blood oozed out, and dripped to the ground. "Dark force, come forth. Taste the darkness that exceeds yours. A challenge is being declared." Black mist emerged from the blood as it evaporated. A cold gust of wind blew, and a dark presence appeared.

I am Teleport, and I accept the challenge.

Yan nodded, "The game?"

Tag. She's It. Only her. The force motioned towards Sakura. Five hours. It was 3 pm, Yan set his watch and cell phone for the timer. Catch me... if you can. And the Teleport vanished.

"Hoe? How am I going to tag it?" Syaoran unsheathed his sword, "I'll-"

"That won't work Syaoran. You don't know where it went. You can't track it." Eriol commented.

"Then what can we do?"

"Simple. Everytime a teleporting spell occurs, a 'scar' is made from its origin. Lily and I can reveal the scar. From there..."

"Eclipse, come to my aid!" The majestic white tiger appeared, and landed by Sakura's side. "Eclipse can open the scars, and create a portal to the destination. Syaoran can then power it so Sakura can get there faster." Yan stated. "Now we just need to track it when it moves normally."

"I got it." Meilin drew out her compass. "Guardians of the compass, lend your strength to Sakura."

"Tomoyo." Yan turned to the raven haired girl. "Sakura would need protection. We don't know where she will appear. Merge your power with Eclipse's, and you can make a barrier where ever Sakura appears." Tomoyo nodded as she began chanting a spell with her necklace. "I wonder how patient this force is..."

His question was replied to quite quickly, when a large bus appeared out of nowhere, soaring at Sakura. "HOEEE! GRAVITY!" Sakura threw out one of her new cards, and the bus halted in midair, slowly drifting to the ground.

"OK then, Sakura, go!" Eclipse roared, forming a portal. Sakura felt a light aura around her as she took Meilin's compass. Giving one last loud HOE before jumping in. Yan sat down, and began to meditate, channeling every one's magic through him to Eclipse. He needed to keep focused, or Sakura would be in big trouble.

* * *

"HOEEE!" Sakura shut her eyes as she leaped out of the portal. She glanced around, and found herself next to Eclipse in a new environment. "Wow... so beautiful." Sakura spun around, staring at all the tall buildings and skyscrapers surrounding her.

"Sakura! Focus!" Syaoran's voice came out of Eclipse's mouth, from Yan's channel of magic. Loud honking snapped her out of her trance, and Sakura glanced around her... She was standing in a middle of an intersection, dozens of cars were honking. "HOEEEE!" Sakura ran onto the nearest street she could find, yelling sorry as she ran. "Gomen! Gomen gomen gomen gomen!"

Come on! The game just begun! Sakura groaned as she called upon Meilin's compass. The blue light guided her to the end of the block, where she found yet another scar. "Here we go again..." A portal was formed, and she jumped in, wondering where she is going to be next.

* * *

"She's in Los Angeles... wait... she's now at Tampa... now London... now Sydney... Istanbul... dang this thing keeps moving!" Yan's head was spinning from trying to track Eclipse's location. "She's now entering... New Orleans! No detection of her leaving there anytime soon..."

Eriol turned pale at the name, and began to swear profusely. "Ah crap New Orleans? Crap crap crap..."

"What?" Eriol ran off to a nearby newspaper vendor, grabbed a copy, and sprinted back. Super-hurricane hits New Orleans.

* * *

"HOEEEE!!" Sakura screamed as she held on to a nearby lamppost. Tomoyo's temporary shield quickly shattered under the pressure of the heavy storm, and now, she is holding on for her dear life, while the Teleport stood less than a foot away from her, bouncing around. Come and get me, Card Mistress.

* * *

"Crap crap..." Syaoran muttered, "We need to help her! Slyph, Undine, come to my aid, help Sakura! End that storm!" The two majestic dragons blasted out of Syaoran's sword, and flew into the dark skies.

* * *

"Can't... hold... on..." Sakura felt her fingers slipping off, one by one. Until finally, her last finger released its grip. "AHHHHHH!" Sakura felt the heavy winds pull her into the skies, but suddenly... it stopped... and once again, Sakura began to plummet.

"HOEEEEE! FLY!" Her pink wings flapped furiously, and Sakura managed to land safely. "FREEZE!"

Teleport attempted to run off again, but Sakura's last card managed to turn it into an icicle. "Finally, Dark Force! Return to your power confined! Sakura Card!"

* * *

Hours later, back at the group's residence

Syaoran sat in front of a small shrine that he made in the backyard. Dozens of names were written on its sides, the names of the fallen.

"Mom, Fuutie, Feimei, Sheifa, Fanren... I'm sorry. I should visit you guys more often. I promise that I will stop this demon menace, though it has been quiet lately. Only Dark Forces. I won't give up, I won't look back. I won't let anyone else get hurt. I will not fail."

"Mom... why did you never tell me about Dad? At first, I thought the scene I watched was all fake, but that force was The Memory. It pulls out our deepest memories. Why was I never told?" What other secrets do I not know?

* * *

Yan stood along in a dark room. After ensuring his client was safely asleep at a proper time, he came here... wherever here was... It wasn't long until two more presences appeared. One was a tall pale man, with short black hair. He was lean and handsome, with a very sophisticated look.

"Yan, it's been a while."

"Drac... never a pleasure seeing you."

"Cut the chatter you two. Yan, why did you call us?" The second man was also tall, but was tanned and had brown hair. He was buff, but still very handsome.

"Simple. Prepare for war."

* * *

"The lodestones are being placed."

"Excellent. How is the group faring?"

"They sealed two more forces."

"Everything is going exactly as planned..."

**Sneak preview of upcoming chapters... (Not finalized)**

Ghost Town Arc

"Everyone get inside now!" Syaoran yelled, "Salamandra, Odin, merge! Magma, come forth!" Spewing hot lava erupted from the ground, burning down the countless undead rushing at him.

"Tomoyo, Sakura, Eriol, GET A BARRIER UP RIGHT NOW!" Yan generated a barrage of voids, obliterating his surroundings. "Everyone get inside the barrier!"

"Yan? How is it out there?"

"You want the good news or the bad news?"

"What good news?" Syaoran asked.

"Today is a great day to die. It fits the doom day scenario and whatnot."

"OK then... just how many forces are there?"

"Good or bad?" Syaoran sighed. "Good."

"There is a countable amount."

"OK then the bad?"

"There are 32 of them."

Death Arc

"The game is simple. The five mortals are marked by me. The Card Mistress, Reed's Reincarnation, The Lance Wielder, The Shield Carrier and the Bow Master. Continuous events will occur, controlled by Fate here, that will kill them. The Dragon Master must intervene and save them. They will be targeted in that order, and this list will occur four times. After the four loops have occured, the remaining survivors wins."


	21. Ghost Town: Opening Game

AN: Sorry for the late update. School is a bit-... er I mean a bit difficult. Spending hours on homework... Well, this chapter is... different. It acts like a transition chapter, you delve into Yan's history a bit within the last 30 or so years, you'll get to meet the two new guys and another new character, and the next chapter will start the fight ). In the meantime, you have this very, very different chapter, with different styles of writing. Most likely a one time only... unless you guys like it this way. Be sure to check out the TheSakuraProject fandub on YouTube, I'm part of the editting, made the opening sequence P. Thanks to fiasse ( You better be fixing your story ) ) , AngelEmCuti, and Eri Nikaido for reviewing!

**Ghost Town Games: The Opening Game**

Chess is divided into three significant parts: The opening play, the midgame, and the end game. In the opening, you develop your minor pieces, castle your king early, and attempt to hold the center squares. The opening goes by quickly, and is the key point of getting control in the midgame...

_"Why are we called here?"__  
__  
"To prepare for war..."_

**A few weeks later...** Sunday

_"Wolf activity is at an all time high-"__  
__  
"People are vanishing-"__  
__  
"Strange weather disturbances-"_

"Jeez, there is only bad news these days." Touya switched off the TV set in the hospital break room. "This is messed up."

"Look on the bright side Touya." Yukito walked in, reviewing a clipboard. "It can't get much worse."

"Don't jinx it." Touya grumbled.

"Why are you such in a bad mood? Is it because of Sakura's trip tomorrow?"

"Ugh, don't remind me... a week with her and that BRAT. If she gets hurt I'll..." Touya grasped his necklace with his axe pendant.

"Why are you worrying? They can handle these new Dark Forces just fine."

"From what I heard, they have been only coming one at a time. What if they come in groups?"

"Relax... oh dear, here comes Nakuru..."

"TOUYA!!"

"ARGH! Nakuru! GET OFF!" Yukito sighed, this is going to be a long day.

* * *

_BANG! BANG! DemonNight head shot KeroSun. DemonNight head shot SpinelSun._

Yan glanced away from his computer screen to watch two stuffed animals slamming their heads against his bedroom wall. "You know, for two beings who spend their days eating and playing video games, I expected better."

"Argh, best... what number are we on again?" Kero roared, scratching his small teddy bear head. Kero, Spinel and Yan were playing Team Fortress 2 together, and frankly, Yan was kicking their butts.

"Best 367 out of 733." Spinel yawned.

"Yeah... that..."

"You have a week to practice without me, so you better spend it wisely." Yan disconnected from the server, and closed his laptop.

"Oh yeah, your ghost town trip... I wonder how Sakura is going to handle it. She hates ghosts." Kero chuckled as he discussed the quirks of his mistress. His chuckle came out quite weak though, that happens when you lose 366 games in a row of anything. Yan pulled out two duffel bags, one he dumped a few clothes, his laptop, some computer equipment and other electronics. The other bag...

"Erm... kid? What's with..." Kero was flabbergasted, at loss for words, so Spinel finished the statement. "... all those weapons?"

Guns, varying from sniper rifles, pistols, sub machine guns, assault rifles, and shotguns somehow managed to cram into the bag (Kero suspected magic had a hand with it), along with grenades and other various explosives. Yan however, showed no emotion, and acted that packing for a war is perfectly normal for a school trip.

"Just playing it safe."

"But... that's a bit unnecessary for you isn't it? You are the Demon Master after all. You remember your magic right? Sword of Time?"

"Who says this is for me?" Yan zipped up the bags, and dumped them by his door. "Other people need to protect themselves you know. Not everyone has magic."

Kero's eyes grew greatly, to size of small plates. "You mean..."

"Enchanted weapons, mythril core, silver inner layer for those demons and various dark forces, and iron for magic auras. Standard counter-paranormal issue."

"Where did you get all of this? This definitely isn't legal. I don't think Dark Forces will ..." Spinel inquired.

"Had a hundred years of running around. You pick up a few items here and there." Yan whistled as he exited the room, leaving two very intrigued-and confused- stuffed animals. "And who said this is just for the Dark Forces?" The black bag filled with weapons had two words on it- "Unknown Soldiers".

* * *

THUD! An arrow hit a bulls eye. THUD! THUD! THUD! Three more hit the target, one after another. A group of boys were astonished on how their challenger was ANNIHILATING them. Not just beating the living crap out of them, but beating it out, stuffing it back in, and beating it back out again over and over. Lily gave them a smirk as she walked to them. "And you say a girl can't do archery? Sexist bastards."

The boys were unresponsive. They were too shocked at their defeat.

"Jeez, how rude... well, later idiots." Lily strutted out of Tomoeda High's archery range. Last week, the archery team rejected Lily since she was a girl (apparently, they did NOT meet Mizuki Kaho), so she challenged them, and put them in their place. "Oh crap, look at the time, I need to pack! Ugh, great... hm?"

Something hovered near the edge of her mind. Something quite familiar.

"Hello mother."

* * *

"Hm, I need to pack this, and this, oh can't forget this..." Tomoyo bustled back and forth in her room, stuffing stuff into her luggage. Sakura was getting light headed from all the stuff she was packing. "You know Tomoyo, we are only going to be there for a week..."

"You can never pack too much Sakura! Ooh, must not forget my new cameras!"

"Cameras? As in plural?" Sakura asked in horror. One camera was bad... but more? Oh the horror.

"Of course! I have permission to set up cameras all over the ghost town! They will pretty much catch everything! Except for the bathrooms of course! They will be linked to my new laptops! Of course, I will be holding one myself..."

"Hoe..."

* * *

"Hyaah!" Eriol swung his katana at lightening speed at Syaoran's head, and the attack was met with Syaoran's jian. Meilin followed Eriol's attack with a sword strike of her own, combined with some magic. "Wind come to my aid!"

Blades of air struck at Syaoran, but he easily blocked it with his magic. "Come on, strike together!" Their training session was Eriol and Meiling versus Syaoran, who outclassed the two of them combined. Blows continued to be launched, none of them even got near Syaoran, who did not even bother to strike back. "Ugh, Syaoran, you're holding back!"

"Come on Meilin, this is not my training, you guys need to MAKE me work harder. Come on! Again!"

* * *

"Mother."

"Lily." Lily glanced behind her, and saw nothing but air. "Why the veil?"

"I must not be seen by... others."

"What do you want?"

"What I always expected from you, to kill the Demon Master."

"Not going to happen."

"He's not an ally. Once he regains all of the Demons, he will destroy the world."

"Bull."

"Huh, you trust him? How foolish."

"He proved himself to be more trustworthy to me than you ever did."

"I see his deceitful lies blind you. Lodestones can be destroyed. Books don't hold any information. Why hasn't he destroyed any?"

"What?"

"He collected three lodestones, but only deactivated them. He knows how to destroy them, with hellfire or soulfire. He's planning to use them again. Once he is at full power, even the Dragon Master can't stop him."

"How can I trust you, the matriarch of the Lin clan? You've sent assassins on a simple mortal-"

"Her father held a lodestone, we had to get to it and destroy it. The Demon Master is only protecting the girl to take the stone. He's been consulting with the dark soldiers."

"Right..."

"Listen to me, he needs to be killed, and only you can kill him. He's biding his time. Waiting for the demons to be under his command. That must not happen. Kill him. He can't be trusted." She vanished, leaving Lily alone with her doubts.

* * *

**The next day**

"Everyone! On to the buses!" The students clamored into the buses, chatting excitedly. This was the trip that most of them were looking forward to. A real ghost town. In the back of the bus, if you listen really carefully, you can hear teeth chattering. One guess who they belong to. Our good ol' heroic Card Mistress.

So let's look at the bus and summarize the trip. Sakura and Tomoyo sat together in the back, Sakura was panicking while Tomoyo was trying to calm her down and film her kawaii-ness at the same time. Syaoran and Eriol sat together, both meditating. Lily and Meilin were playing a game of chess, but Lily seemed a bit distracted. The bus was very large, with two floors, so most of the people sat on the second floor or the back of the first. The first few rows were dead empty... except for lone Yan. Tapping away on his laptop, which was connected to his cell phone. He seemed... strange.

Now, let's skip all the way to their arrival...

"Welcome to Shen, deserted for over three hundred years, rebuilt, destroyed again in WWII, and recently redone with modern technology!" A cheery girl greeted Well, for a ghost town, it was quite a surprising view. There was a large beautiful hotel built right next to the town. One of those five star ones that rich people go to. There were forty or so floors, but each floor was two blocks wide.

"I wonder who built this..." Sakura mused. Her question was quickly answered. Two men approached the group of students, both were tall and handsome, one had brown hair and tan skin, while the other was pale with black hair. They were both quite young, maybe in their early twenties.

"Welcome! I am Mr. Lycan and this," The brown haired one pointed at the other man. "Is Mr. Pyre. We own this hotel chain, and own this ghost town. As your hosts, we hope you are comfortable here, and will have a safe trip." As the two men walked away, Syaoran felt something... unique.

_Kid.__  
__  
_Tian? Long time no...

_They're not human_

What?

_One's a werewolf, the other is a vampire!__  
__  
_WHAT?!  
_  
Keep an eye on them.__  
__  
_Well, this is interesting...

* * *

"Wow this room is huge!" Sakura, Meilin, Tomoyo and Lin entered their suite on the eighth floor, and frankly, its gigantic. A large living room with a sofa and wide screen TV, a very nice computer, and four seperate bedrooms and bathrooms. "And the boys are right across the hall! This is so perfect!" Meilin squealed.

Tomoyo took out her laptop and a small hard drive, and began setting them up. "Gotta get this system started up, then we have to check out the hotel! We get this whole day to enjoy ourselves!"  
**  
Across the hall...**

"Eriol? What do you know about vampires and werewolves?" Syaoran yelled from his bedroom. The guys were unpacking their bags in their individual rooms.

"You talking about Lycan and Pyre?"

"How did you know?"

"Their auras, and their names. Lycanthropes are werewolves, and vampyres are well.. vampires."

"Can they be trusted?"

"Beats me. I was lucky enough to never have to be in _their_ business."

"Hm where did Yan go?"

**On the roof.****  
**  
"Dang, this is high." Yan stared down to the ground. He could feel a strange aura stirring up all around him, yet it doesn't feel like a dark force. Something is not right here. Something is biding their time... waiting... preparing for the checkmate.

**At the pool**

"Ah, this is the life." Meilin sighed as she laid back in the pool. The gang was hanging out at the pool (except for Yan... where did he go?) "We should get a pool... Oh look, its queen bee."

"Shouldn't Yan be babysitting?" Eriol chuckled, he just can't stop making fun of Yan's predicament. "She's unwatched."

"But we aren't." Syaoran pointed at the end of the pool, where Lycan and Pyre was watching them intently. "What's with them... what are they planning? And where the hell is Yan?"

* * *

"So... this is it. The famous burial ground." Yan stood at an empty wasteland not too far from the ghost town. "Where a great lance general and his army was buried a thousand years ago..."

"So you know the story then?" The guide from earlier approached him. "Supposedly the general had incredible power, and combined with a legendary lance, he was unstoppable. He supposedly came to life three hundred years ago and destroyed the town. This place is supposed to be cursed." She talked in a cheerful voice, despite the depressing topic but her tone quickly took a U turn right into morbid and dark. "He was supposed to have the power that rivaled the demons."

"Hmph, you don't say... Full moon tonight eh? I guess you'll be busy." Yan kept his face straight, but the guide was shocked. "What's your name kid?"

"Jade, but I don't think you have any right to call me kid."

"I am over a hundred years old, judging by your aura, you are in your early twenties. You're not even half of Lycan's age, and I call him a big kid now. Don't worry, you'll have a long life ahead of you, if all of hell doesn't break loose first." Yan looked at the darkening sky. "Temptation is at its height when the moon is full, I only know a few who can resist it. Watch yourself tonight. Dark presences are at work." With that, he walked back to the hotel, leaving Jade alone to stare out into the wasteland. _Strange guy..._

* * *

**Dinner - restaurant**

"There you are! Where have you been all day?" Meilin demanded as Yan sat at their dinner table. They had been eating for a half hour before he decided to show up. He replied with an ambiguous shrug, and just closed his eyes. "Out for a walk."

"For the whole freaking day??"

"It was a nice walk." Meilin sighed in defeat. This boy, out of all of them, infuriated her the most. "You, Yan Meng, are IMPOSSIBLE! Really!" She gave one last huff, as she gulped down her water.

"Hey you girls aren't easy either." Yan opened one eye, and glared at her. "I suggest you guys get a good night sleep. Tomorrow will be quite busy."

* * *

**Later that night...**

Yan booted up his computer screen, logging onto a private server. He entered a long and complicated password, and a new window popped up. A chatroom.

Night logged in.  
Drack logged in.  
Lobo logged in.  
Drack: Ah, Night... up for a nice game of chess?  
Night: Why not.

A board popped up.

Drack: Pick your color.  
Lobo: Hey! Don't leave me out!  
Drack: Fine, fine... bughouse?  
Night: Whatever, I will beat you both.

Two boards popped up. Drack and Lobo took one side, Drack white, Lobo black. Night took the other. Timer was set to 10 seconds per move. The game began.

Drack moved his queen bishop pawn two spaces forward (1. c4 English opening), which Night replied with his king knight forward (1. ... Nf6), while on the other board, Night played his king night forward. Both games steadily became more and more complicated, no captures from either board, until finally, Drack traded a pawn. The war finally began. Night checked Lobo, and retook the pawn. Lobo dropped the pawn to cover the check, but Night countered by dropping a pawn to attack the pawn. Drack began to pummel down Night's kingside, in hope to make a weak spot to exploit, but Night avoided and deflected them all. A rain of knights and pawns fell upon the boards. Two minutes later, a message popped up.

Checkmate. Team Night&Night checkmated Team Drack&Lobo

Drack: Ah, aggressive as always. Brilliant combination.  
Night: Enough. What's the status.  
Lobo: My forces have mobilized.  
Drack: Mine as well.  
Night: Excellent, how many do you currently have here? I already met Jade.  
Lobo: Hm, Jade is our youngest. She is part of the new team I brought.  
Night: Rookies? You brought newbies? Really?  
Lobo: I think they'll suffice. "If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles."  
Night: Sun Tzu? Really? Whatever. Drack?  
Drack: They are ready, my best team.  
Night: Good. Be wary.  
Night logged out  
Drack: Such a strange boy...  
Drack logged out.  
Lobo: "In war, truth is the first casualty." Aeschylus. "Mankind must put and end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." John F. Kennedy. Mark these words, Night. Remember them well.  
Lobo logged out.

* * *

Jade stood in front of the hotel, staring out into the night sky. The moon was full, the inner voice of temptation was strong. She sighed as she walked back in to the hotel.

"Jade, there you are."

"Lycan."

"I heard you met the Demon Master."

"I still have my doubts. He really is a strange kid."

"Strange? No doubt. Kid, not really. I remember him when I was a "kid", he hasn't changed one bit. Still just as freaky. Could never understand him."

"Dark forces are in motion..."

"Stop talking kid, and let it out. You're not strong enough to pent it up." Jade simply shuddered, her blue eyes cold. "'War does not determine who is right - only who is left.'" Burtrand Russell."

"Why do you have so many war quotes?"

"War is a complicated thing... necessary to preserve peace... why... In a state of chaos, war ends and restores order."

"Hey, how did you ever... befriend Yan." Jade inquired. Lycan closed his eyes and sighed. "That... is a long story. Back together when we were part of a special force... the Unknown Soldiers."

* * *

_**April 26, 1986**_ Coordinates 51° 23′ 22″ N, 30° 5′ 56″ E 12:10 am

Chernobyl plant, Ukraine

I glanced around my surroundings. Four other men were on board, locked and loaded. Our faces concealed with dark helmets and body armor. One was standing, looking out the window, shuffling a deck of black blank cards. One sat next to me, while two other sat across from me. It was dead quiet on the transport copter, except for the repetitive howling of the wind. We are equipped with similar weapons on our bodies. An assault rifle attached to our back, two SMGs attached to our legs, grenades locked into our belt. I poked the guy to the left of me, and took off my helmet. "Hey, name's Bill Lycan. Seargent. American divison, USA west. You?"

"Drack Pyre. Europe, Transylvania. Lieutenant." He took off his helmet. His dark eyes resembled the dark night sky, and were filled with strength. A vampire. Dang. He kept his words shorts yet smooth and calm. I wish I can pull that off. I turned to the other two sitting across from us. I could smell their human blood. "You guys?"

Both of them took of their helmets. One had brown hair and eyes, the other black hair with green eyes.

"Xiao Lang Li. China. Private."

"Ken Amamiya. Japan. Corporal." I stared at wonder at the team. Never had such a various team has been formed. But this mission was not usual. Everyone was busy, only the few that were not dispatched on missions were here, on this helicopter. Li looks quite anxious, wonder why. "Got a girl at home?" He looked up, and nodded. "Yea, my wife. Yelan. And two daughters. Anyone else?"

"My sis." Amamiya replied distantly. "Nadeshiko... Man I hate this job... She hates to see me hurt... I hate seeing her cry..." The silence grew awkward, I had to change the subject.

"So, who do you think that kid is?" I tilted my head at the teenager that stood alone.

"Don't call me kid." The teenager growled, his voice cold and brittle, as if he hasn't talked for a long time.

"Well, then who are you?" This guy was getting on my nerves. What's with him?

"Yan Meng. Global. SpecOp." I heard Li give a low whistle. Global? this must be big.

"A spec op?" Drack raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Why send one of you? If this was all that important to send a Global unit, why not pull all stops on lower priority missions? Why just you... sir."

"Cause I'm an expert." He turned to face all of us. I can feel sweat pouring down my back. Just having him look at me gives me the chills. "Listen up. Our destination is the Chernobyl Power Plant. We detected a strong disturbance. We don't know the cause, but demon, or demons, have crossed. We're going in, and taking them out. If they get loose too long, the damage can be catastrophic. The region's team was sent in an hour ago, and we lost contact with them half an hour ago. We have a job to do. Lock and load. Kill any demons, find the team." Hoorah. Demons, hm, don't deal with them often. I checked my assault rifle, making sure its fully loaded. Our technology was ages ahead of modern tech. I felt the helicopter lower, and hit the ground. I could smell the wet mud out there. My enhanced sense can be both a blessing and a gift. I really hate that smell. Need some nice pine fresh, or something. Maybe cinnamon. Meng nodded at us as we hit the ground. "Let's go."

_Our mission was quiet at first. No one was outside from our LZ to the nuclear plant. Then... we entered hell. I was a fresh troop... I didn't see that coming. None of us did... except for our team leader...__  
__  
_I took point as I entered the entrance. It was eerily quiet. The entrance room was clear... the floor was flooded. It was dark. As I step in, I felt bile building in my throat. It's all blood.

"Oh.. my..." I've seen blood before... but this was beyond reality. A lake of blood. Blood smeared on the wall, yet no bodies. "Crap, we're late. Move, move!" Yan broke out in a sprint, and we followed. Every step splashed blood. I heard constant dripping from various locations as we ran down hallway after hallway. Yan lifted his hand, and signaling us to halt. He aimed his rifle down the hallway. It was dark, but a slight motion could be seen. A shadow was down the hall, and judging by its aura, it was not human. "Weapons free."

Our five rifles came to life as bullets rain down the hallway. A deafening roar echoed down the hall. The shadow vanished, moving in deeper and deeper. "Follow." We ran down the hallway, upstream a river of blood. I could hear its every step running away from us... then it began to get closer. Faster.

"Move! Its charging at us!" I dived to the side, my body landing into the river of blood, as the beast flew over us. Its razor sharp teeth nearly grazed my armor, along with its black claws, its red eyes shined in the darkness. Its red skin was covered with cuts and and veins. It was tall, with two white horns on its forehead, and a long sharp tail. It landed a few feet away from me, and turned to face me. I could see every little detail, every little cut, every bit of darkness. Flames emerged from its hands, I pulled my rifle and fired. The beast flinched, and threw flames at me. I felt a hand grab me and pull me out of the way.

"Move!" It was Ken, dragging me with his left hand, while firing his SMG. "Crap, its running!"

"Pursue! Delta formation!" Meng emptied his rifle at the fleeing monster, and ran after it.

_It was a nightmare. Really. All that blood... the horror. We followed the demon into a reactor room... Things just kept getting worse._

I entered the new room, a faint glow from the reactors. I scanned my rifle across the room.

"Clear!" A dark aura filled the room, along with the rest of the team. Drack and Meng went deeper into the room, but Li began to act a bit strange. He just stood there in the entrance of the room.

"Li? You OK?" His eyes were glazed, empty. "This power... it feels-" Yan grabbed Li and threw him out of the room. I tensed at the action. "Hey! What the-"

"Huh? What happened?" Li shook his head frantically. His voice was filled with confusion. "I don't remember-"

"Stay out of this aura. You're a Li right? Part of the Li clan? Yea, you guys are power hungry people. Your inner instinct is thriving for the power, even though its your polar opposite. Just guard the door."

"Got it sir." Li was worried. I would be too. Losing yourself is a bad thing.

"Sir? I think you should see this." Drack's voice came from the middle of the room, the center of the aura. I followed Yan, while Ken stayed back with Li. "What... the hell... is that?" An orb of darkness, a black void... with screaming dark magic. Yan even looked worried. "We need to get out... now." The ground began to shake. Demons poured out of the portal. "NOW! Everyone back to the LZ! NOW!" A circle of magic surrounded him, and Meng unleashed power throughout the room. "We have five minutes until this reactor will blow, taking these bastards down." Yan threw a grenade and fired at the swarm. "GO GO GO!"

_We began to run. Fast. Ran like we never ran before. The floor shook with every step. We were trapped in a middle of a meltdown. Yet time seemed to slow. No, time did slow. The drops of water fell slower, it was a strange phenomenon._

"Get on board! Move!" We piled onto the helicopter, and it took off. Demons poured out of the entrance, the helicopter gunner fired its heavy missiles, blasting the first wave to smithereens. "Go! Go go go go go!" The helicopter flew quickly, and a blinding flash filled the sky. We were going to make it. We were going to make it... and then everything went dark.

Flashes of light passed in my eyes. I hear the pilot screaming. I felt my body dropping. Ken grabbed my arm. More flashes of light. A seas of fire. Then it went dark again.

I groaned as I opened my eyes. My head ached as I looked around. The helicopter crashed... we are screwed. I dragged myself out of the helicopter, pain screaming throughout my body. I looked to see the surroundings. Ruins. Nothing but ruins. Howling wind echoed throughout the air, blowing radioactive dust.

"You ok?" I looked into the sky to see Yan. I nodded. "Good... come on, get up." Yan lifted me up, and we walked into the storm. A dusty wind blew with us, giving me a slight boost. I saw Li and Drack ahead of us. "What happened to Ken?"

Yan's eyes grew dark. "We lost him, along with the pilot." The memories of what happened seem to flash in my mind. I remember Ken grabbing out for me. I almost fell out of the copter, but flames consumed the pilot, and the copter spun out of control. Then, Ken was gone. Into the sea of flames.

_It was a nightmare. High Command sent a transport to pick us up, beaten and injured. We lost two men today. Two good men. I slept most of the way back, but I picked up a few things here and there. Li was talking to Yan about his power hunger. Li made Yan promise him: To eliminate him if he ever loses control. I never heard his response._.. _I woke up in an infirmary, with Drack and Li. Yan left, but it wasn't the last I saw of him. I heard he went to give his condolences to the Amamiya..._

* * *

"Huh, he really is a strange kid. So what happened to the Unknown Soldiers?" Jade asked. She was being strong, resisting the moon.

"They are still here... busy with other jobs." Lycan stared at the moon, and lost himself in his thoughts. "So, Sakura, the Card Mistress is the niece of of Ken... I have to meet her... I owe him..."

* * *

It has been said that it is darkest before dawn. Oh, how right that was. No matter how far light travels, darkness will await it. Darkness gathered around the town of Shen, waning and growing. Step by step, the shadows of the world pushed in and attacked.


	22. Ghost Town: Midgame

I'm back after a month! Yes, I am not dead, just beaten down severely by school work! My beta is now gone ( so expect a lot of errors( I am very sorry, but my grammar is terrible. So yes, I am dead for the SATs). It's interesting how when I planned this story, it was maybe about 20 chapters TOTAL and at most 50K words... now? Double everything minimum. This is going to take a while. What's worse is that I have another story in mind despite not working on Path of Clow (I am still trying to invent another 20 characters... plus no beta/co writer makes it living hell) plus I have a Calculus test soon... Well, enough of my banter. Oh yeah, for those who want S&S, I am actually going to start rebuilding that relationship!

Thanks to Eri Nikaido, AnimeManga4Evah, SapphireShell91, fiasse, AngelEmCuti, and Oblivion.

Fiasse's question: Yes there is 4 left. Razor of the Metal, Timber of the Wood, Quetzacoatl of the Sun, and Mercury of the Ice. Not to mention the Hell Lord himself, Ragnarok. That would be dealt with in the next arc, the Rain of Blood and Fire.

Also, for those who were paying attention (I don't blame you if you didn't), here are some points about Yan I hope you caught on...

-There was never a mention of Sakura's uncle, Ken._ "Nadeshiko... Man I hate this job... She hates to see me hurt... I hate seeing her cry..." _Yan paid a visit to Nadeshiko after the mission...

-Yan made a promise to Syaoran's father...

Yan is a complex character, and he is just going to get more complicated.

**The Midgame**

_Sakura... Sakura..._

_Who... who's there? Who are you?_

_Sakura... Cherry Blossom... my Cherry Blossom..._

_Who are you?_

_I'm coming... I'm coming... Sakura... Sakura..._

_"SAKURA!" Another voice, a familiar voice was screaming out to her, calling for her. It was a warm voice... "SAKURA!"_

_Syaoran...?_

"SAKURA!" Tomoyo shook her slumbering friend in hope of stirring her awake. "Sakura! Come on! We're going out to the Ghost Town in two hours! We gotta go eat breakfast! SAKURA!" Tomoyo sighed in defeat. She knew she should have brought a few alarm clocks for her best friend, but she just couldn't fit anymore stuff in her bags with all of her clothes and cameras. So now... she is stuck with her best friend in a coma. A very, _very_ deep coma.

"Mmph... five more minutes... Syao..." Sakura rolled over in her bed, covering her head with her covers.

"Hey, what's going on... Sakura, you're still not up? Jeez..." Meilin entered the room, fully dressed and ready to go. "That's it... You have until three... one... two... three." No response, just a mumble. She took out an ofuda, and chanted a spell. "Water, come to my aid!"

"HOEEEEEE!"

* * *

Syaoran stood alone on the empty rooftop, staring out into the clear skies with his sharp blue Dragon eyes. Though it looked normal, a dark cloud of destruction disguised itself as a peaceful sky.

"The storms of destruction is gathering... is it not?" The words echoed in the empty rooftops, and Syaoran instantly reacted. He pulled out his sword, and pointed at the new comer. Cold black eyes met fiery amber. "Why the hell are you here? Answer or I'm sending you back to Transylvania."

"Sharp reflexes... you are definitely Wolf's son." Drack Pyre whispered, his words freezing the air around him. Syaoran could feel the air chill, but the words grabbed his interest.

"What?" Syaoran's curiosity peaked. His eyes slanted dangerously, his eyes burned with flames. "Who? Do you mean my father?"

"Yes, your father, that was our nickname for him, Wolf. He was one hell of a fighter, it was a sad day that he died. Heh... so I guess you should Wolf Jr. or Little Wolf... how ironic."

"You knew my father?" Syaoran demanded. Questions exploded in his mind, so many words, but all he managed to spout out was: "How? What? Why?"

"Of course I knew your father. Ken, sorry I mean Lycan, and I used to be buddies with him back in the old days, and Yan too, I guess..." Pyre continued to talk as if this was a friendly chat over a cup of tea.

"What? Yan knew my father? How?" _Why did he never tell me?_

"Yea, that was before he decided to switch his name, hell that got confusing for us. Never knew why he bothered changing his name just to change back a few years. I mean really..."

"Answer the question!" Syaoran brandished his sword, and pointed it dangerously close to Pyre's face. "Tell me."

"Ah, the blazing wrath of the Li blood..." Pyre gave a cool smirk, despite his situation. "Good to see it hasn't worn down by the generations.. It all began... with the Unknown Soldiers..."

* * *

"Hey, Li! Earth to Li!" Eriol tapped his "cute little descendant's" shoulder furiously as he tried to get his attention. "Li!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Eriol. What were you saying again?"

"Jeez, what's with you this morning?" Eriol asked, his tone filled with worry. "You usually not this off."

"Sorry... just... how much do we know of Yan exactly?" Syaoran nodded towards his immortal counterpart, who was playing chess with Meilin and Lily, who refused to accept that "this idiot actually is better than them in an intellectual standpoint", while Sakura watched, but she wasn't paying attention. "His past? His ideals? His dreams? All we know is his duty... but is this person we know his true self? Or just an illusion? We don't know that much about him, do we? All this time, I never thought to think about who he was or what secrets he held."

"So, you have doubts about him too?" Eriol muttered. "I'm not sure, but I sense a strange presence in him, something he has yet to reveal to us. He's definitely holding secrets, but I'm not sure if that is for the better or for the worse. I guess we will see in time... Someone must be holding the strings of this war, someone is manipulating these fights... but who?"

"Well, I am not going to just wait around for answers... I am going to find my own." Syaoran stood up, and walked over to Sakura.

* * *

"Checkmate." Yan moved his knight right at Lily's smothered king. "You were far too aggressive Lily. You sacrificed nearly all your pieces just to get a slight shot at my king."

"If necessary, one must sacrifice anything to achieve a goal." Lily muttered, her words came out cold, sharp and inhuman, sending a slight shiver down Meilin's spine.

"Do you really believe that? Will you sacrifice innocent lives? Yourself?" Yan questioned, his eyes were like a hawk as he observed Lily in a new light. His eyes and face were unreadable of what emotions and thoughts were crossing his mind.

"If it's necessary." Lily stood up and left the table, leaving behind Yan and Meilin. Yan followed suit and vanished into thin air.

"Good luck with that Lily..." Meilin muttered, fingering a knight. The white knight stared blankly back at her...

* * *

Sakura stared blankly at the chessboard, fingering her necklace, not paying attention to her surroundings. Her thoughts were scattered, but focused, all about a certain boy. A little voice in her head was arguing with her conscience,

_When are you going to forgive Syaoran?_

_He broke my heart!_

_It wasn't his fault!_

_He's immortal now!_

_So? He still cares for you!_

_Does he still? Even after being so cold to him? After acknowledging him as only a friend for so long? Does he still wait for me?_

_Shut it. After this break... you are going to talk to him. You gotta work things out. Got it?_

_... Fine._

"Sakura?" Sakura snapped out of her little argument with the not so little voice in her head, and blushed immediately. "Huh? Uh..."

"Can I borrow Return?"

"Uh... Sure..." Sakura called upon the card in her mind, and it popped into her hand. She handed the pink card over to him, refusing to look at her friend in the eye.

"Sakura? You OK? You look a little flush."

"Er... uh..."

"Get some sleep. Be careful, don't push yourself." Syaoran gave her a warm smile, and walked out of the cafeteria, with Eriol tailing after him.

_We definitely have to talk_.

"Ready?" Eriol asked, his sun staff laid in his right hand.

"That's a dumb question." Syaoran replied irritatedly.

"Well excuse me for being polite."

"Shut up Eriol... one, two... three."

"RETURN!" Syaoran and Eriol stood alone on the rooftop, and poured their magic into the card... and the world around them changed.

"Where are we?" Syaoran asked, staring at his surroundings.

"Tomoeda... but..."

_"SYAORAN!"_ Syaoran and Eriol turned to see a cheerful girl tackle a brown haired boy to the ground. Syaoran opened his eyes in recognition. "This was the day... Five years ago..."

_"There is going to be a dance next week, remember? Don't go running away now! You promised!"_

_"Of course, Sakura. I'll be there."_

"Aww, what a sweet moment..."

"Shut up Eriol."

"You know... it's strange Tomoyo wasn't here to film this..." Eriol pondered, as he watched the two twelve year old walk towards Sakura's house. "Maybe... Ah. There. Syaoran, hiding in the trees." Syaoran opened his Dragon Eyes, and saw what Eriol was pointing at. A shadow was watching his past self. A familiar shadow, but before he could put his finger on it, it vanished into thin air. "So, something important happened during this time frame... when you were taken back to the Li Clan that involved Yan. Let's fast forward a bit."

The scene changed into Syaoran's apartment. A group of five men waited in the room, each of them wearing traditional Chinese robes with a Yin-Yang symbol on their chest. A click was heard as the front door unlocked, at young Syaoran entered the apartment.

_"You guys! No, I am DONE with the Clan!"_

_"I regret to inform you Xiaolang that your services are needed. You're destined for greatness.."_

_"Screw greatness. Screw the Clan!"_

_"Very well. We hoped it would not lead to this." Each man drew a sword, and charged. "BRING IT!" past-_Syaoran summoned his sword from pendant around his necklace, and pulled out two ofudas. _"Raitei SHOURAI!"_ Lightening exploded in the house, striking down each man with one blast. _"I'm never going back. None of you can make me!"_

_"But I can..."_ A shade, dressed in a black cloak and hood, appeared before past-Syaoran. _"What the-"_ An orb of black matter collided with past-Syaoran, knocking the twelve year old out. The shade walked forward and approached the unconscious boy. The scene went black yet again. Syaoran and Eriol now stood in front of an old building. The lone shade stood in front of the door waiting. A loud voice echoed from inside.

_"You'll be trained for five years..."_

"Huh? This is the day I was debriefed..." Syaoran felt nostalgic as he stood in front of the doorway on the Li Clan grounds. All still in one piece... all alive. "But... Mom?" Yelan walked out of the doorway, and bowed to the shadow. The shade bowed back, and pulled down his hood, revealing blood red eyes.

_"Mistress Li."_

_"Meng... "_

_"It's Fanli... for now."_

_"So... you were the one who warned of us a demon threat in five years..."_

"_Yea... huh. They all grew up."_ Yan glanced into the building, _"Your daughters are well, but I wish I can say the same for your son. I'm sorry I must put him through this. I promised your father to keep your family safe, but what I'm doing is the exact opposite."_

_"Hm, Xiaolang was a great man. How dare you speak of him like that, after what you did?"_ Yelan's words came out hostile.

_"All I did was keep a promise."_ Yan replied, ignoring the hostility. _"I'm good for my word."_

_"Well, now you involve my only son-"_

_"Look, I will be back in five years, in the meantime, I will make my preparations at Tomoeda. The Demons must not acquire the Sakura Cards."_ Yan walked away, while Yelan returned into the building. Yan glanced around him, as if waiting for something. He cleared his throat with a cough, and stared directly at Syaoran and Eriol.

"Can... he see us?"

"Most likely... he's the master of time after all..."

_"Syaoran. I know you are here. Just want to tell this was for your own good."_ The scene went dark again, and the spell began to fade.

"Crap! We didn't learn anything! Argh..." Syaoran gripped his sword tightly, "We need to talk Yan."

"Syaoran... we might have some trouble." Eriol pointed at the darkened sky.

"Here we go again..." Syaoran pulled out his sword, and screamed out an incantation. "Salamandra, Dragon of Fire... COME TO MY AID!"

* * *

"As you see to the left of us..." Jade pointed to a ruined building to the group of students. Flashes of lights from various cameras lightened up the somewhat deserted ghost town. A large statue of a dinosaur stood in the center of the building. "This is what remains of the town hall, which marks the center of this ghost town. According to the documents we found here, a massive attack came from two miles west of here over the period of three days..." Jade's void drifted off as she picked up a cheerful scent. "You may now wander around... please don't stray too far."

Jade approached a group of four girls, who were happily chatting and taking pictures of their surroundings. "Hi, how do you enjoy your tour so far?"

"This place is really beautiful" Sakura commented, clearly in awe. Meilin and Lily nodded in agreement, while Tomoyo continued to film her surroundings and the unfolding scene. Jade gave a warm smile to the cheerful girl. "So, you're it?"

"Huh?"

"You're the Card Mistress." Sakura immediately took a defensive stance, grasping her key. "TIME!" Meilin and Lily grabbed their weapons as well, while Tomoyo... well, she was still holding her camera in one hand, while in the other was her shield.

"How do you know that?" Sakura's pink staff appeared in her hands.

"I am not your enemy, Card Mistress. As you will soon find out, I'm a friend." With that, Jade walked away, leaving behind four confused girls. And at that exact moment, right when the Time spell faded, all hell broke loose.

The sky exploded in flames as a mighty dragon took flight in the dark sky. Screams filled the air as people saw the falling flames.

"Salamandra? What's going on? Why did Syaoran summon a dragon?" Meilin wondered. More screams erupted in the ghost town, overlapping a thundering stampede. Dozens of six feet tall spiders, scorpions and other nightmarish creatures bursted out of the ground, "What the hell? Argh, RAITEI SHOURAI!" A burst of lightening struck a lead creature, and it dissipated into thin air. "Sakura these are creations of a Dark Force!"

"But I can't sense it!" Sakura unleashed Arrow, sending a barrage of arrows at the rush. A nearby millipede rushed at her, but a violet barrier cut off the stampede from the rest of the humans. "Thanks Tomoyo! Wave, manipulate the sounds waves and magnify my voice! EVERYONE! GET BACK TO THE HOTEL NOW!" Sakura's booming voice got through everyone's panicking as a rush of high schoolers charged at the hotel. Sakura reverted her attention back to the onslaught, but all of the creatures vanished. "Hoe?"

Lily and Meilin were surprised as well, both with weapons ready. Tomoyo turned her head rapidly, "Where did they-" A deafening roar broke out followed by a barrage of attacks on the barrier. Tomoyo screamed as a large crack formed on the barrier.

"GET DOWN!" A rain of bullets flew past the girls, and stopped midair. Dozens of monsters reappeared and exploded. "Card Mistress!" Jade appeared beside them, carrying an assault rifle. "We need to get you back to the hotel! Our barriers there can repel them. We will cover you!" Jade pointed to a half dozen men and women armed with rifles, along with five wolves. "Come on! We need to move!"

Sakura nodded, "This will be easier, TELEPORT!" The group vanished before the swarm of invisible creatures surrounded them.

* * *

Everyone sat in the large cafeteria in the hotel, muttering to each other. In the front, sat most of the gang and Lycan and Pyre. They sat in silence for a second, until Yan appeared before them.

"About time." Lycan growled impatiently. His face had a large gash on it, but it healed rapidly. Smaller cuts covered his arms, and a new scar was on his face.

"Where the hell were you? We could've had some help on the roof." Syaoran demanded. Eriol and he managed to fight off an onslaught of winged creatures, but it was no easy task.

"I was analyzing the situation." Yan replied coolly, "The Dark Forces love games, but it isn't a game if only one side could win. There must be a way to win. They must always set up a way for themselves to lose, or else they lose the thrill of the game. I think I found it, the small weakness they left."

"Well, get on with it." Lycan grew more and more impatient at the passing second. The wards around the building was fading away by each passing second.

"We've seen a few forces so far. The Nightmare, which spawned the creatures. We can neutralize that with the Fear card. Then there was the Invisible. Our 'eyes' can handle that. The problem is that there is more."

"How many more could there be?"

"That's the bad news, at least thirty. And worse is that they have already won the opening game."

"Uhm... what do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"The opening game in chess is when the pawns and minor pieces move to control territory and set up attacks for the rest of the game. It is an important play to not mess up in. Too late for that." Yan explained. "So we have to strike preemptively, shatter their build up positions. I picked up a few more forces, one is the Necromancer, which we need to deal with immediately."

"Why?"

"Cause its going to bring IT back." Lycan and Pyre paled a bit.

"It?" Meilin asked. "What's 'it'?"

"The Lance General... man she is going to be pissed."

"SHE??"

* * *

_"Nephenee Azul was one of the greatest dragoon of all time, but the most unknown. She typically didn't go for global domination, but she had a small army of great power. She was never defeated by any of her challengers. She lived two hundred years ago, and had two secret weapons: The Dragon Lance and a blank black card. Both disappeared after her death. So, I crossed a line in magic, crossing time. I only had 7 days before risking too much damage to the space time continuum. I had to get them both back, fast. So I jumped through time, and challenged her. She said no. So, I wagered my immortality."_

_"That got her attention. She always desired immortality. So we fought... and I couldn't put a freaking scratch on her."_

A women in sky blue armor faced agaidasewnst Yan, she was carrying a sea blue lance and shield. Her blue hair came to life in the gusty win. Yan drew his gold sword, and charged. The golden flash met with the blue lance. The split second the two weapons made contact, Yan vanished into thin air, and reappeared behind her. He thrusted his blade into her, but the sword was met with impossible resistance from the armor. Yan leaped back in surprise. Nephenee gave a cocky smirk as she spun her lance. "No man can kill me."

"We'll see about that." Yan charged again, and the two weapons clashed.

_"Her armor couldn't be pierced even by my blade. So after six days, I pulled a fast one.. I stole the card and got the hell out of there. I couldn't get her lance... so I took what I can get."_

Yan held the black card in the palm of his hand as he ran through a dark forest, the shining moon contrasted the dark wave after him.

"COME BACK HERE!"

"Hell no lady! Back to the future for me! Later!" Nephenee's roar of anger exploded like a typhoon in the night sky, making it quite clear that this Demon Master definitely pissed her off.

* * *

"So... this Nephenee... she isn't going to be happy to see you ain't she?" Lily asked.

"Oh I am sure she would be overjoyed... to get another shot of killing me." Yan muttered bitterly. "My magic can't scratch her, but her magic isn't that strong. I am not sure how she pulls it off. If I can find out how, then I can try and counter it."

"Perhaps she has a powerful source of magic? Maybe she used the lance as a source of power to enforce her armor?" Eriol wondered, calculations flowing in his head. "I would love to study such an armor."

"So what is the-" Syaoran's words were cut off with a loud explosion. "Crap! What was that?"

"The Explosion... and it's not happy either." Yan replied dryly. "OK, listen up. If Nephenee joins up with the Dark Forces, we will be royally screwed. I'll stall her, she definitely can't resist taking a swipe at me given the chance. Sakura, go nuts. Seal them all, but try and nail the Necromancer. Meilin, Syaoran, help Sakura. Lily, Tomoyo and Eriol, you hold the fort here. Lycan, you take your squad and try and soften them up. Drack, you back me up with your vampires. Keep a telepathic channel open. Good luck. Let's move."

* * *

"Ready Sakura?" Syaoran, Sakura and Meilin stood in the front lobby of the hotel, with Lycan, Jade and some werewolves in their wolf form.

"We will go first. Follow, and stay low. Wolves, move out!" Lycan growled, and the eight wolves bursted out of the hotel. "Go go go!"

Sakura took a deep breath and gripped her staff tightly, and charged out into the battlefield, with Syaoran and Meilin following closely after.

"Oh my..." It amazed Sakura how much the surroundings have changed. The refurbished ghost town has been demolished to a handful of broken buildings, and burning flames. "Oh my..."

"SAKURA MOVE!" Sakura felt herself thrown to the side as Syaoran pushed her to cover. A deafening explosion shattered the air, sending dirt and shrapnel into the air, temporarily deafening Sakura. She shook it off as she climbed back up to her feet, just to be knocked over again by another deafening explosion.

"It's the Explosion Card!" Meilin yelled as she sent a lightening bolt at a charging beast, but another explosion knocked her back. She flipped and landed back on her feet, and jumped again to dodge yet another explosion. "Mind sealing this one first!?"

"Got it! Small, shrink the explosions!" The series of explosions shrunk dramatically, into minuscule pops. "Dark Force! Return to your power confined! Sakura Card!"

A new card appeared into Sakura's hand, the Explosion. "One down!"

"SAKURA! KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!"

* * *

Yan ran through the ruins, dodging explosions and flaming meteors as he moved through the shadows. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Pyre and his vampires caught in a fight with some of Nightmare's beasts.

"Crap!" Yan leaped onto a wall to jump to help, but the moment his foot came in contact with the wall, it disintegrated immediately. He flipped over and landed quickly on his feet in the large empty town hall. "The Decay... Wait..." Yan scanned his surroundings. "This was the town hall... Where the hell is the dinosaur?"

Speak of the devil, the ground began to shake. "Oh crap... Rayearth, come to my aid!"

* * *

"Dark Forces, return to your powers confined, SAKURA CARDS!" Two more pink card appeared before Sakura, The Invisble and the Nightmare. "Hoe, only three so far..." Sakura collapsed on her feet, "This is going to be a long day."

_Don't worry Card Mistress, I will lend you my strength..._

"Sakura? Come on. We got a lot more to deal with. Not sure if Yan or Eriol can hold out for forever." Syaoran commented as he helped her up.

"Yea... yea..."

* * *

Yan landed gracefully on the ground, a split second later, the statue of the dinosaur crumbled, pieces of rocks fell around him. Meanwhile, an orb of energy trapped two Dark Forces. "Heh, the Motion... You two will have to wait there until the Card Mistress seals you..." Another presence revealed itself to Yan's mind. "Ah crap. What now?"

"Hello Yan." Yan froze instantly at the voice. He tightened his grip on his sword with his right hand, and pulled out another one with his left. "Nephenee."

"It has been a long time... too long." Yan turned to face the blue haired beauty, pointing a lance at him. Nephenee's sky blue eyes shined despite the dark atmosphere, her blue armor showed no sign of wear. "Funny, at my end of this, it hasn't been long enough."

"Are you afraid Yan? I heard that you have a true fear: who you really are."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You don't know who you truly are don't you? Those memories? That voice? How you can recognize every Dark Force? Join me, and I will tell you everything, I will show you that there is nothing to fear in the darkness."

"You are not much of a persuader Nephenee." Yan pointed his golden blade at her. "En garde!"

The two warriors charged at each other, steel meeting steel. Yan deflected her thrusts and stabs with one sword, and struck back with the other.

"So, how did you find me so fast?"

"The Compass guided me, I emphasized to the Dark Forces that you were a more important target than the Dragon Master and the Card Mistress."

"Is that so?" Yan flipped to the side, and poured energy in his two swords, "Tempest, fill the sky with your arrows!" With a slash of his blades, dozens of arrows shot out at Nephenee, who deflected the attacks with her shield. "You have a great power within you, one that surpasses the others." Nephenee slammed the ground with her lance, sending a great tremor around her, forcing Yan to leap into the air. "Heh, I find that hard to believe, considering I can't put a scratch on you."

Nephenee gave a devilish smirk, "That's a secret you will never find the answer to." Yan dived back down and slashed with his sword. Nephenee blocked the blow with her lance, and the force of the collision forced both fighters to fall backwards. Yan flipped back to his feet with ease, while Nephenee rolled backwards, and kicked off a nearby wall, charging back at him. His swords met her lance once again, and they two danced into the night.

"Don't you want to know who you truly are?" Nephenee sent flames from her lance, which Yan countered with assistance from Kraken. "Volt, strike with your blazing lightning!" Electricity collided with Nephenee, but she merely shrugged it off.

"You know, this is starting to piss me off." Yan's voice was filled with irritation as he dodged another counterattack. He used both swords to block a slash, and the two warriors locked themselves together.

"The secrets that lie within you can change the world Yan." Nephenee whispered as she struggled to push her lance into Yan's neck. "It can be used for great things."

"Yea, they said that about the atomic bomb." Yan warped out of the dead lock and reappeared behind her, slamming both swords into her neck. Yet again, the blow was deflected by an invisible force. "Come on!"

"You can't defeat me Yan. Let's see if you can take THIS!" Nephenee spun her lance, and sent a bolt of lightening at his position.

"AURA!" A black sphere surrounded him, and exploded, sending a shock wave of energy at all directions. Buildings were decimated, but Nephenee didn't even flinch. "That piece of armor is one stubborn piece of crap."

"I've been blessed, haven't I Demon Master? You can't hope to defeat me, no one can!" The two warriors began trading blows once again, sword collided with lance. "You'll pay for fooling me!"

"Jeez, that was two hundred years ago! LET IT GO!" Yan yelled as he continued to press his attack on Nephenee, his blades continuously pounded on Nephenee's lance and armor. "DARK BEAST!" Yan linked both swords, and slammed it into her chest. The force of the blow sent her flying back a hundred meters. "Finally, so freaking progress!"

Nephenee flipped back and landed gently on her feet. She sent a barrage of wind strikes out of his lance. "Do you know why I am called a dragoon Demon Master?"

Yan spun both of his swords, and charged at her, blocking and dodging each strike. "Why don't you enlighten me?" The two once again collided in a close range duel. "Dragoons... are derived from the word Dragon!" To Yan's amazement, two blue wings appeared on Nephenee's back, and she took flight.

"You know what makes us different?" Yan smirked, "I don't need wings to fly!" Yan pushed off the ground after her, and continued the fight midair.

* * *

"Slyph, deflect those meteors!" The wind dragon appeared, and blew away the meteor barrage. "Sakura! Now!"

"Dark Force, return to your powers confined! Sakura Card!" Sakura took a long deep breath, and stretched her sore muscles. "Four down... the Invisible, the Nightmare, the Explosive, and the Meteor. I wonder how Yan is holding out."

"See for yourself." Syaoran pointed at the midair fight, which showed no signs of ending. "Looks like he can hold out. We should worry about ourselves first. Meilin, how's your arm?"

"It's fine." Meilin's right arm got hit by debris from the meteor, forcing her to fight with her other hand. Sakura healed the arm, but it was wise not to put to much stress on the arm just yet. "Curses, I'm not ambidextrous like you, Mr. Perfect."

"Why don't you head back to the hotel? I can take care of Sakura just fine." Syaoran asked, his amber eyes filled with worry for his cousin.

"And leave you guys with all of the fun? They will stick me in the infirmary back at the hotel. Come on, we get a lot more Dark Forces to seal."

* * *

"Dang it woman, why won't you die? Dark Beast!" Yan blasted the dragoon out of the air and sent her crashing to the ground. He plummeted down after her, both swords stabbing at her chest, but yet again, his attack was deflected. Nephenee kicked Yan to the side and retracted her wings. "I am invincible Meng Yan, no man can defeat me!"

"Well, there is a first time for everything!" Yan linked both of his swords together and struck the ground. "Demonic Circle!" A series of shock waves blasted towards Nephenee, but she easily leaped over them, and retaliated. Yan brought his blades to deflect the attack, and once again, they interlocked. "This is just round one Demon Master, the game is far from over."

Yan grunted as he pushed back, sliced at her head. She blocked quickly with her lance, and flipped backwards to avoid his second strike. "Jeez, if you are so invincible, why do you bother dodging?"

She replied with a ambiguous shrug, and the warriors collided once more. Yan struck ruthlessly, but none of his attacks had any effect. Nephenee struck with a lightning burst, blasting him back a few meters. "The sky is getting darker, is it not? This will be the end of you and your friends, unless you surrender now."

"Go..." Yan struggled back on to his feet. "To... HELL!" His eyes turned crimson red, a sea of blood. His body emitted a dark aura, blacker than anything can ever be. "Round two, starts now!"


	23. Ghost Town: End Game

A/N: OK, chapter 23... that just took nine months .. To make matters worse, this chapter is short(er). So, my most sincerest apologies. Life has been busy (Junior year is a pain), and summer class sucks as well, but now... I finally can conclude the Ghost Town miniarc, and concluding the Eye of the Storm arc. What happened to the Death arc? That's gonna be a side story, a gaiden. It's really time to get back on track with the main story. Sakura is going to get her power boost, and.... the plot is going to thicken big time. If you have doubts about the plot before... it's just going to get any of you can figure it out, the congrats to you.

Shout outs to the 11 people who has this story on Story Alert (much more than I expected) and however many on Author Alert!

Daisy W. - Yes, my grammar and spelling is terrible. Not my first language.

inyuashafangirl - Thanks =)

and a VERY special shout out to |Oblivion|, fiasse, AngelEmCuti, and SapphireShell91. Thanks for sticking around =). To fiasse: Yes to the first question if you still remember it, and a Necromancer is someone/thing that can bring back the dead.

End Game

Syaoran stared off the hotel roof into what was left of the old ghost town. _Hard to believe only two hours ago, I was still fighting for my life... well maybe not my life..._ Buses were being loaded, looking like a a small toy from such a high altitude. Lycan quickly organized memory erasing methods for the civilians, and their immediate evacuation. As far as the public is concerned, an earthquake of epic scale occurred. The dusky sky is covered with a single color: blood red. The clouds of destruction has faded away.

"Syaoran? You up here?" Meilin pushed open the door to the rooftop, bandages covering her body as she supported herself with a long blue lance; dried blood covered it. Her legs were shaky from lack of energy, she clearly needs some medical attention, but there are far more people that have been injured much more severely. "Sakura is finally waking up. She's pretty wiped out from making all those cards."

"It was a rough day for everyone." Syaoran muttered as he fiddled with his hair. A small part of his hair has been unevenly cut. "Has Yan came back yet?"

"Nah, he's still out there... Wonder what's up with him. Was killing that girl so hard for him? I always thought of him as a killing machine." Meiling said. She never saw him in such a pathetic state. He was usually free and secretive about his emotions, but now, he seemed like a wreck.

"He has no problem killing demons, but yea, I never seen him so worked over about killing another human..." Syaoran stared at a smoking crater on the battlefield. _Four hours ago... I was standing there..._

_Four hours ago_

"Crap, crap crap crap crap." Syaoran jumped off a a ruined cliff, landing on brittle crystal. "Sakura! Sakura! Damn it, SAKURA!" His panicked amber eyes scanned his surroundings, nothing but crystallized buildings. The last few hours were chaotic. A few new cards were sealed, the Psychic, the Thief, the Compass, the Decay, and the Motion. Not a bad start, but there were dozens more, and to make matter worse, they got separated. So, as always, they were in trouble.

"Syaoran? SYAORAN! Over here!" Meilin's voice came from inside one of the crystallized structures. Syaoran attempted to stifle a laugh, she sounded so helpless trapped in a building. Meilin absolutely despises being helpeless.

"Where?... Holy crap, how the hell did you get in there? I thought we sealed the Crystal half an hour ago." He said innocently. He's gonna push this as much as he can.

"Now is NOT THE TIME TO ASK THAT!" Syaoran flinched as he felt her temper flare brightly. The pride of the Li clan, one hell of a temper, one that appears in Freddy's nightmares and make a charging rhino take a U-turn with its tail between its legs.

"OK, OK, jeez. Wait a second." Syaoran pulled out his sword, swung it twice, and chanted "Ramuh, come to my aid! Lightening Blade!" Syaoran's silver blade flashed, electricity surrounded his sword as he swung it, blasting his target. A loud bang rang out as the lightening disintegrated the crystals, revealing a fuming Chinese girl. "You couldn't have done that earlier? I might have suffocated!"

"Hey, I could have left you in there!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Wanna try-" Their little argument was disturbed as a sharp knife sliced off a bit Syaoran's hair. It would've been a lot more, but Syaoran's inhuman speed had him dodging at the split second of contact, as he grabbed Meilin and ducked into cover. "What the hell was that?"

"Want to have some fun?" An increasingly annoying voice echoed through out the dark sky, followed by a barrage of similar knives. Syaoran quickly deflected all of them with his sword, and was about to cast a wind spell with his sword. "Slyph- huh?" A slight breeze blew past him, followed closely by a cyclone of wind that collided into Syaoran head on. The gust of wind lifted Syaoran midair, but he quickly spun out of the way and landed gracefully.

"Was that fun??" A small child appeared in front of the two, with a red jester hat and red joker suit. It was juggling a few dozen knives, each glinting despite the lack of sunlight. It had dark black hair, and sharp red eyes. Meilin glared icily at the Joker, her sword gripped tightly in her right arm, and two ofudas in her left. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Let's play!" With a flick of its tiny hands, a barrage of knives flew straight at the two Li's, followed by another gust of wind.

"Meilin, get ready!" Syaoran yelled as he swung his sword, "Salamandra! Come forth!"

"Yea yea yea... I freaking HATE this job!"

_Card Mistress! Earth to Card Mistress! Yoohoo! Oly Oly..._

_What's the annoying sound? Why was everything black? Did I go blind?_ She tried to lift her head, but regretted it immediately._ Ow.. Ow Ow Ow... OK, that hurt... OK, think Sakura, think calmly... what happened..._

_... Oxen Free! All is clear in the western front!... Do you humans always think to yourself like that? It gets kinda annoying for me._

_OK, I know that voice... wait..._ "Nova?"

_Yeesssssss?_

"What's with the... hyper?" She said dryly, her voice hoarse from the lack of water.

_It's a phase, I'm a kid you know! _

"OK OK, just don't yell." Sakura blinked as she tried to see her surroundings, her head pounding as she opened her eyes. No Syaoran, no Meiling, instead... A pair of amazing sapphire blue eyes... attached to a white horse... with wings... and a horn...

"HOEEEE!"

"Why... won't... you... DIE!" Yan's red eyes flared with anger as he slashed at Nephenee. The force of the strike blasted her through two buildings, but she took the hit as if it was a mere tickle. His twin blades flamed with his anger, the sparks of flames danced in the dark realm. His red eyes turned darker and darker, with each passing second. "I am going to rip you to shreds!"

"Ha... ha... you can't kill me, Yan." She spun her lance along the palm of her hand, and pointed it at Yan. "After all, I was taught by the best." She said with a devilish smile.

Yan tightened his grip on his twin blades, his arms shaking from anger. "Don't remind me." The two collided again, Yan rapidly slashed at her head with both weapons, but she blocked one blow with her lance and stepped back to dodge the second. She was fast, but was unable to avoid another fury of slashes from Yan, but once again, she took the hits painlessly. She just merely smiled again, and said, "Remind you of what, Father?"

_"Thank you for taking her, Mr. Amamiya." _

_"No trouble Meng, but what about the other daughter?"_

_"I sense her destiny does not belong here... I must take her away from this time."_

_"Good luck then... What will be her name?"_

_"Nephenee. I know a lady named Yukia Azul... she lives in another time... but she would be the parent that Nephenee needs, the parent that I can never be."_

_***_

_"Yukia."_

_"Meng, did you bring her?_

_"Yes, please..."_

_"You must go.... you must not stay here long. It is far too dangerous at these times."_

_"Very well... good luck Nephenee."_

_***_

_"Meng. You daughter wishes to meet you."_

_"I told you not to tell her about me."_

_"She deserves to know of her true parents, even if not by blood."_

_"It's far too dangerous."_

_"That is irrelevant. She must meet you."_

_"... Fine."__  
__  
_

"HOEEEEEEEE"

"Card Mistress, would you kindly stop screaming?" A large tiger growled from behind the wings of the... something. "I'm really not in the mood to shut her up with force."

"Tiger, please." The horse-thing neighed, "She's a fragile girl."

"She's the Card Mistress, Unicorn. She better start acting like it. This is a battle, only the strongest will survive." Tiger gruff voice hinted with irritation as he turned away, "Falcon, Hawk, report. How are the skies?" A slight breeze blew past Sakura as two birds glided down and landed beside them, one with bright crimson red feather, the other with light brown.

"It's difficult to see through the chaos the Dark Forces brought forth." The red one commented as it shook its wings. "The others are having a rough time tracking the leader."

"Who is the leader?" Sakura managed to catch her breath and regain her voice after her countless screaming. Her head was still spinning and aching as she tried to remember what happened.

"What. What is the leader." The brown bird replied, "Something is coordinating the attacks. If we break it, their attack will falter. The easiest method though, would be sealing all of the Forces at once. But that should be a last resort."

"I see..." Sakura's voice drifted off as she observed her surroundings. She was in a ruined building somewhere... no roof, a few broken walls. No sign of Syaoran and Meilin. "Has any of you seen a boy with brown hair and eyes, or a girl with red eyes and black hair?"

All four animal heads turned to her quickly in shock. "The Dragon Master is here? Of course, if the Demon Master is here then..." Tiger muttered, "This is more severe than I thought. If the Dragon Master and Demon Master meet, this situation will be beyond our powers. The battle will become far too chaotic, blood will be shed."

"Yan? But he's on our side!" Sakura exclaimed. Unicorn raised its eyebrows in surprise, and gazed at the darkened skies.

"Impossible... his aura... it's unmistakable... he must be..."

_A young girl, no older than 14, with long blue hair and blue eyes swung a wooden lance above her head and struck a practice dummy and lightening speed, quickly tearing off its head. She quickly followed the strike with a shower of jabs and kicks, and finished with a powerful overhead strike. Two observers watched from a distance, a women and a young man._

_"She reminds me of you, Meng. Her fighting style even matches yours."_

_"I still think this is a bad idea. She shouldn't be involved."_

_"Her magic is growing rapidly, her powers are tilting farther and farther into darkness."_

_"...."_

_"She needs you, I have foreseen some terrible events if she falls into darkness."_

_"Fine." Yan walked over to Nephenee slowly, summoning out two wooden swords with his magic._

A dozen knives were launched at the two Li cousins, Syaoran swung his sword imbued with Slyph's power, blowing the attack away. Meilin followed her cousin's attack with a burst of lightening and fire, hitting the Joker head on.

"Gotcha!" Syaoran casted a binding spell on the two, pinning them down for good. He flipped open his green cell phone to check the time, but regretted it immediately.

"Damn it, we wasted too much time here." Syaoran checked the bindings he established on the two new forces, the Joker and the Knife, one last time before he checked over Meilin. "Nothing serious, the Knife got a bit of your arm, hold on, let me heal you. Origin!" His hand glowed in green light as he sealed Meilin's wounds. "There, let's get moving." Meilin merely stared at Syaoran blankly. "Meilin? What's wrong?"

"Do you feel it Syaoran?" Meilin's voice trembled as she spoke, her body shivered furiously. "It feels so cold... regret, spite, such cold emotions... it so cold..."

"I don't feel anything... Damn it, what's going on?"

_"Strike! Block! Dodge! Never hesitate, never doubt! Plan ahead of time, trust your instincts! Fear nothing!" Nephenee, age sixteen, followed every command and drill Yan barked out. "Never fear the dark, never allow fear to control your mind! Fight to protect!"__  
_

_"Hai!" Yukia watched the father and daughter _

_***_

_Two years later... _

_"All hail Lord Nephenee!" Nephenee stood in her sky blue armor, her hair billowing with the wind. She lifted her lance into the air, and yelled, "Who dares challenge me?"_

_"NO ONE! NO ONE!" The crowd roared furiously, not noticing a cloaked man teleporting right behind them. "NO ONE CAN DEFEAT LORD NEPHENEE."_

_"Oh, I wouldn't say no one." A cold, confident voice silenced the crowd. The crowd went dead quiet as they turned to face the next contestant, Nephenee stared at who dared to challenge her. "Father?"_

_***_

_"It's good to see you Father." Yan followed Nephenee into a large building, various bystanders whispered as they passed, all were wondering who this challenger was._

_"I wish I could say the same." Yan replied coldly._

_"What do you mean?" Nephenee asked innocently._

_"I heard what you've done to gain power."_

_"So?"_

_"It's disgusting. Why?"_

_"I... I..."_

_"You what?"_

_"Just want you to be proud of me... Want your attention..."_

_"Well you definitely got it."_

_"I just... just want to be like you! Be strong! Be great!"_

_"At what cost?"_

_"You're asking me that? You paid the ultimate price for your immortality!"__  
__  
_

_"That's something I don't want to see to happen to you!"_

_"Well, it's too late to be a father to me."_

_"I told you I was sorry, but you would have been in great-"_

_"Danger? Danger? Ha! I can't believe I wanted to be like you, you are a fool..."_

_"Are you not going to stop being a monster? Hand over the lance and the blank card.'_

_"Monster? Really? Is that what you think of me as? I will never stop being a 'monster'"_

_"Very well, I, Meng Yan, challenge you, Nephenee Azul..."_

"All I wanted was my father to be proud of me... yet you turn me away!" Nephenee aqua colored eyes were filled with tears, either of despair or anger. "You... YOU!"

Yan's red eyes quickly shifted back to his dark brown, as he stared at the ground. "I'm sorry, Nephenee, that I couldn't be the father you needed. I'm sorry things have turned this way." He lifted his two swords. "I wish for you to rest in peace."

"You can't kill me... you... YOU CAN"T EVEN HURT ME! YOU'VE ALREADY TORE AWAY MY SOUL AND HEART! WHAT IS THERE LEFT?" Nephenee roared at the top of her lungs, "You caused eternal pain to me, and with my armor, I can't lose. Your guilt holds you back, and you know it. You don't want to kill me."

"We'll have to see about that... wo de nu er..." Yan muttered, as he entered his fighting pose. "One of us is going to die here, and unfortunately for you, I am immortal."

"Like you said, we'll see about that."

"So... who are you guys... exactly?" Sakura yelled out as she clung on to Unicorn as it flew through the sky.

"We are the Seven Dark Beasts." Unicorn's calm voice seemed to defy physics as it overlapped the sounds of the blowing wind. "We're the guardians of the Forbidden Half."

"The Dark Forces?" Sakura asked.

"Hai."

"So... where are we going?"

"Somewhere high. I believe some of the Forbidden Half has been sealed by other forms of magic. With our power, you can seal all of those."

"Really? Hoe... you guys must be really strong."

"The true power lies in the pendant, Mistress."

"Nova? I know she's strong, but-"

"Never underestimate the power of the Dragons. However, you have to tap into its true power."

_True power..._

Yan swore as his blade was easily deflected by Nephenee's armor. "God damn it!"

Nephenee swung her lance at Yan's head, but he dodged her slash with a quick back flip. He back stepped a few feet and chanted a spell, "Demon Fang!"

A series of shockwaves shot out from Yan's blades towards his opponent, colliding at supersonic speed head on. The attacks didn't phase her, as she shrugged them off with ease. "You regret it don't you, father? That you weren't strong enough to protect us? Mother, my sister, your brother?"

_My brother? Brother?_ _What brother?_

"Hah... you don't know?... You don't remember your twin brother, Fan Li?" Everything went black for Yan.

"Jade! We're falling back!" Lycan yelled as he shifted into his wolf form.

"Yes sir! Wolves, back to headquarters!" Jade howled, racing ahead of the pack back to the hotel. The fight only lasted an hour, yet they already lost three wolves and two vampires. Lycan reluctantly decided it's time to retreat and minimize their losses. It's up to the Dragon and the Demon Masters to support the Card Mistress to seal all of the Forces. The Unknown Soldiers are out of this fight.

"Tomoyo!" Lily ran by her friend's side as Tomoyo collapsed from exhaustion. Eriol fired another barrage of spells at the mass of dark spawn attempting to break through the entrance. "She must be exhausted, she never made such a large barrier for such a long time." Eriol muttered.

"God damn it!" Lily fired another two arrows at the enemies. "We can't hold here then! Where the hell is our backup?"

"What's with high school girls and their lack of patience?" Jade appeared out of nowhere besides them. Long cuts covered her arms and body, but she still managed to crack a smile at the three. "The calvary has arrived!"

"Are you ready Card Mistress?" The Unicorn yelled over the heavy winds. They had to fly above the clouds that concealed the sky for this mass sealing to work.

"Haaaaaiiii!" She replied as she clutched on to the Beast's body. This is feeling is much different compared to the Fly, and to make matters worse, the air was getting thin. No matter how strong she was, oxygen was still a necessity.

"Nova and the rest of us has linked our power to your staff. You only got one shot to seal them all. So please, do your best, and don't mess up."

"Greaatt..." Sakura muttered to herself. "OK, here I go!"

"DARK FORCES! RETURN TO YOUR POWERS CONFINED!" Sakura gasped as a large surge of power was released from her staff. A blast of light was emitted from the star tip, waves of energy flowed around her.

"COOOMMEEE ON!" She yelled as more energy was released, struggling to keep focused. She can't mess up now, not when she's this close to succeeding. She shouted in glee as the first card appeared in front of her, followed by more and more.. until finally... she blacked out.

"Man, where is everyone?" Syaoran muttered as he searched high and low for his allies, but his search was disrupted by an explosion of light. The battle became more and more chaotic as time passed, Syaoran was practically choking on the dark energy around him. His desperate search for Sakura felt futile, as he couldn't go all out and leave Meilin behind.

"Whoa! What was that?" Meilin asked as she struggled to keep up. "That felt like Sakura's magic. What happened?"

"She did it." Syaoran said with a bright smile, hope was returning, "She did it.... Come on, that leaves that Lance bastard to deal with."

"They're vanishing!" A wolf yelled in surprise, and indeed, the creatures from the Nightmare were indeed vanishing. "We won! We actually won! We're alive!"

The wolves shouted in celebration as the last of the beasts vanished, while Eriol and Lily collapsed by the side of the unconscious Tomoyo. Eriol gasped for air as he said, "Definitely not as young as I used to be."

"No... time... to... rest..." Lily gasped, her breathing ragged. "Gotta... check... wounded..." She struggle to lift herself with her bow, her legs shaking. "God... I... hate.... this.... job..."

Nephenee tightly gripped her lance as she stared at the swarming dark aura surrounding her father. _He's here._

Yan stood still for a solid two minutes, face pointed toward the sky, his eyes shut close. He took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, revealing the absolute crimson, red hell he was concealing. "Well, well well. 'My' little girl is all grown up." He said with a wicked smile.

"I've been waiting for you. Yukia told me all about you..." Nephenee aimed her lance at this dark being. "You... you are the person who fucked up my life."

"Aw, is my little girl pissed? Why? Because I killed your entire family?" He whispered menacingly, as he dodged a thrust of Nephenee's lance. "Is that all you got?"

"Shut up!" Nephenee attacked vigorously, but Yan didn't counter, he just merely dodged and avoided every attack with ease. "My, my, your 'father' didn't teach you very well, did he?"

"Go to hell! Don't talk to me like that!" She charged as slashed at Yan, but he disappeared before she even got close to him. "What?" She gasped as she looked down to see two jians protruding through her body. "How..."

"Your armor is so simply designed, little Nephenee." Yan said behind her. She struggle to turn, but she was blasted away by a single burst of dark energy. "It's all about killing intent. Only those who possess a greater killing intent can pierce the armor... I know what you and Ragnarok are planning. It won't work, everything is going as plan. See? The Card Mistress is sealing all the Dark Forces right now. Heh, even the Dark Beasts thought they had things figured out. Everything is going smoothly." He said as he stared into the sky.

"Damn.... damn it!" She gasped, she has lost too much blood.

"You can't stop me... no one can stop me. Not even the Dragons. Not even your father." He whispered in her ear, "Now, go meet your family." Nephenee screamed as the black void consumed her, and slowly tore her into nothing. "You will pay, F-"

Yan stared at the dark void as the girl vanished into it, leaving behind the blue lance. He swore he saw something else moving inside. No... someone. Someone that should have been dead a long time ago.

"So you are still alive huh?" He said at the Void. The shadow merely glared back, no words could describe the tension in the air. "Don't worry, I will return it to you soon enough."

"Yan! Where are you?" Syaoran's voice echoed around him. "Respond, Demon otaku!"

"Looks like our... reunion is cut short." Yan waved a hand, and the dark void vanished. The red eyes slowly reverted back to black.

"Yan? Yan!" Syaoran climbed over another piece of rubble, and saw Yan unconscious on the ground, his body beaten all over. "Damn, man, what happened to you? Meilin, over here!"

Meilin leaped over another annihilated building and landed by the blue lance. She kicked up the lance and caught it deftly in her hands. "So what happened to Azul?"

"I guess he won." Syaoran grunted as he struggled to pick up Yan, "Damn, he's heavy! Meilin, get over here!"

"OK, OK..." Meilin strapped the lance to her back, and grabbed Yan's legs while her cousin grabbed his arms. "Ready? One... two... UUUGGGHHHH!"

"How the hell he still so heavy?" Syaoran wondered out loud as they slowly dragged him back to the hotel.

_Two hours later_

"Syaoran! Come on, we gotta get on the bus!" Eriol yelled, "Just carry her and go!"

Syaoran sighed as he played with unconscious Sakura's short hair. She was resting on a couch in the lobby, as she exhausted a lot of magic. "Good job Sakura, I knew you can do it... I am sorry for dragging you and your friends into this hell..." Syaoran said sadly, "Maybe it is my fault, if I was stronger, I could have claimed the Clow Cards, and you wouldn't have to suffer so much." He gently picked her up into his arms, and began walking out of the hotel. Eriol waited by the entrance, his eyelids drooped from fatigue.

"I have never been this tired in my life..." Eriol muttered. "God, we need a break."

"Yea," Syaoran agreed, "Has Yan came back yet?"

"He's in the bus, he's still all weird What's with him?" Eriol asked, "He refused to talk ever since he woke up. I'm sure after a few days, he will be back to his dark and strange self."

Syaoran chuckled a bit as he entered the bus, and stared down the aisle. Meilin and Lily were out cold next to each other in the back, Tomoyo was asleep in the seat in front of them, while Yan sat alone in the middle, still staring out in his own world. Syaoran sighed as he walked to the back, he attempted to establish eye contact with Yan, but failed miserably. He placed Sakura by Tomoyo' side, and sat down next to Eriol. He shut his eyes and sighed, despite his immortality, he was pretty damn exhausted. Nothing sounded better than a nice nap to Syaoran right then. _It was a long day._

_Who am I? What am I?_ Yan squeezed his hands tightly as he attempted to remember the duel. _I killed her... but how? When? I remember..._

_You regret don't you father? That you weren't strong enough to protect us? Mother, my sister... _It ends there. His mind blocked it out. Why? What did she say that was so important? Why did he kill her? His darkness... is it just a darkness within him? He thought he had it under complete control. His mind was under control in that duel. Why did it come out? Is he really that weak?

For the first time in a hundred years, Yan shed a tear, and began to cry.

"The cards have been sealed. The Demon Master is still alive."

"Things are growing out of control. Just whose plans is this? His or ours?"

"This game is just getting more and more interesting..."

End of the Eye of the Storm


	24. Darkest Night

AN: How long has it been? 2 years since I last updated this? Feels a lot longer. I don't think I am even the same person that began this story. A lot has happened these last two years, which lead to the loss of the passion of fan fiction and writing. A little over three years ago, a sophomore boy in high school created an idea of a story line, and a friend of his pushed him to execute it. She was my beta, I was the writer. That time felt like a lifetime ago. He began with absolutely no writing skills, terrible grammar and a myriad of other problems. With her guidance, he developed to a slightly more capable writer, his skills still far from perfect. But the two parted ways, and he was on his own. His chapters started at about 300 words each, and slowly crawled to upwards of 5,000. Then it stopped.

Years later, I found an updated document on the top of my Google Docs. Two words that I haven't seen in a long time... the last editor of the document was not me. It was another name I have not seen in a long time. I read through my old plans, reliving my old self's insane plot and immature writing. A mutilated and inconsistencies and a lack of a true writing style, I wondered to myself if anyone actually appreciated this story. I dusted off my untouched email account and logged back into . I have forgotten about the readers I have left behind. Readers that most likely will not even care for this story anymore... but I will finish Dark Fate. My skills are nearly nonexistent from the lack of writing over the last few years, but I will try my best. Please try to bear with my terrible writing now, as my beta is no longer around to help me. I hope those that actually liked this series will be able to find it again, and finally see the first half of the ending. One more chapter after this, ends Dark Fate.

Three years ago, I aimed for a story that is about 10 chapters long, each chapter under a thousands words. I am not sure what happened to that plan. Now, I decided to trim a lot of excess plot and get straight back to the true story. It's time for Dark Fate to finally rest in completion. I apologize to the few fans I have for taking so long, and I hope I do not disappoint with this short chapter. I am only a shadow of the writer I was once before.

**The Darkest Night**

"YAN! YAN! What the hell-" The rest of the words were muted by the constant pounding of Yan's head. His vision was obscured and blurred, but he could barely make out Syaoran yelling at him. He could see the lips move slowly, as if time is being distorted around him. What felt like minutes later, the muffled words rang in his ears. "Where is Lily? YAN! Where is..."

Yan's vision started to return to him, his hand appearing in the darkness. He sprawled on the ground, a strong, unfamiliar taste in his mouth. The summer sky was dark red, covered by clouds, as if a great storm of blood was occurring. His hand was covered in red liquid. _Blood?_ He could feel the wet, sticky blood all over his body. He tried to move, but only earned searing pain as a response.

"God damn! Yan, this is not the time! Demons are fucking everywhere! They are all here! We need.." _Just leave me alone.. my head is killing me. I am in... pain. Demons? Here? The timing... god I am unlucky._

"Damn, what the hell happened to this brat? So much for being immortal." Keero was hovering over his head, investigating the Demon Master's injuries. "He must've been hit HARD. Apparently, they don't make immortals like they used to... Must be the economy or something."

"It's NOT the time to crack jokes Kero. Let me try healing him, HEAL!" A flash of light filled Yan's eyes, followed by Sakura's star staff. "Hoe, nothing happened... Let me try again!"

"Don't... Let... me rest..." Darkness filled his eyes once more.

"Well, this is a problem." Syaoran muttered as he warped Yan into his room. He carefully placed the unconscious teen onto the bed, then teleported back to the living room. "Four Demon Lords are here and the key to our problems is out cold, and Lily is missing. What the hell are we gonna do?"

"I just got a message from Tomoyo and Touya, they managed to secure the civilians into our high school. They are under heavy siege though, so they are going to need reinforcements. They have been sealed inside by some magic." Eriol said, "I'd suggest sending Kero, Spinel and Nakuru to support them. Yue and Meilin should go out and seek if there is anyone we missed and escort them to the school. You, me and Sakura will have to deal with the Demon Lords." Eriol tapped the floor of the room, and a large overview of Tomoeda appeared. "Looks like Timber and Razor are moving together, so Syaoran, you will have to deal with both of them."

"No problem." Syaoran replied, drawing his sword. The silver blade seemed to dance in the flickering light, the inscribed dragons preparing for war.

"Sakura, you go take on Mercury, and I will deal with Quetzacoatl. We can't destroy them... we have to beat them down until Yan snaps out of it and gets his job done. There is no sign of Ragnarok... yet." Eriol finished coolly, brandishing his Sun staff. "We've got a lot of work to do."

"Aren't you guys worried?" Sakura finally spoke, her voice filled with worry. "Yan's an immortal and... and..."

Syaoran twitched as he felt the worry and doubt inside her. Seeing Yan's body in such a way triggered the memories of her lost father, and such emotions will be a hindrance in the battle ahead. He grabbed her hand and give a tight squeeze. Her watery emerald eyes stared at the amber eyes before her. "It'll be OK, I promise. I won't let anyone die. That's a promise."

Outside of the headquarters, a shadowy figure hid under the shadows of the trees. His faint outline made him seem nonexistent. He was dressed in a black, hooded robe, his body obscured completely by the dark fabric. It reeked of a dark aura, even the plants around him started to decay slowly. _They are leaving the house._ He stared at the house, sending out a wave of darkness through the house, hitting a strong barrier in one of the rooms. _There he is. Time to finish this._ He disappeared once again into the shadows, ready to strike.

Syaoran slightly pushed open the front door, scanning the front yard of the house. There was no signs of demons, and no foreign magical presences. "All clear! Let's move!" Syaoran dashed forward to the street, his feet barely even touching the ground. He stopped and once again searched his surroundings a second time. After satisfying his sense of security, he signaled for the rest to proceed. "Move out!" His words barely left his lips when Tian roared in his head. "_SYAORAN! WATCH OUT!_"

Tian's warning came too late. Syaoran felt his head explode as a shadow appeared out of the darkness, its hand grabbed Syaoran's face. Flashes of images filled his eyes, his body froze immediately. "Syaoran! What the fuck is th-" Eriol's voice began to fade away as his vision grew dark. _Oh shit..._

"WINDY!" A pink tornado burst out of the house and collided with the cloaked figure head on. The attacker quickly dropped Syaoran and disappeared milliseconds after the attack. Sakura glared around her, unable to find any trace of the assailant.

"Ugh, what the hell was that about..." Syaoran struggled to stand, using his sword to prop him up. "This is just not our day."

_ A mental attack. _Tian muttered in his head.

_ Come again?_

_ He tried to put something in your mind, and get some stuff out. I managed to contain the spell though, to seal the information he placed and secured any information he tried to steal, but we don't have time to get rid of his information. I will have to stay in your mind to keep things locked up. We have no idea what's in this package. Though, that's a skill that is extremely advanced... something only with the power equivalent to a dragon can do that..._

"Syaoran! Are you ok? You are not hurt anywhere,? You-" Sakura asked frantically, checking Syaoran's bodies for any signs of injuries or wounds.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. We have bigger things to deal with." Syaoran replied, "Let's go kill some demons."

"Has anyone seen my boy? Has anyone seen-" "Dude! We're over here! Here! HERE! Dude, are you freaking deaf? LOOK OVER HERE!" "I can't believe this has to happen today! I just got a date with that cute guy..." Tomoyo sighed as she wandered throughout the school checking the barrier she put up. Everyone managed to orderly move into the school, and are showing no sign of worries. There was no panic, no riot, only an occasional mother trying to find her child. Everything was running a bit too smoothly.. but this isn't the time to question such liberties.

"Did you see that demon that was flying over us? I thought it was going to attack us for a sec, it felt freaking awesome to be alive!" A group of male teenagers were gossiping about the near death experiences they encountered today. _Boys will be... were they always this weird?_ Tomoyo stared out the window, watching the demons attacking the barrier. _Those demons just followed us to the school... no.. some were ahead of us, but they didn't attack us when they ambushed us..._

"Tomoyo!" Touya's voice knocked her out of her trance as he walked towards her, his ax over his shoulder. "How's the barrier looking?"

"It's running smoothly." she said, "It'll hold."

"Good, we got some backup just now, in case we are attacked again. Looks like that Demon brat came back quite beaten up. Some immortal he is, at a time when we need him the most too... Lily is just plain out missing... Talk about crappy luck."

_ Luck? It's so easy that it feels like a setup..._

The shadow quickly broke the barrier protecting the front door of the house, and entered the building. It quickly dashed up the stairs, and turned straight for Yan's room. It unsheathed two swords, but stopped as he felt a powerful barrier protecting the bedroom. It scanned through the memories he managed to steal, but was unable to find how this barrier was constructed. Tian had halted his mind assault before he could acquire the needed information. With no other choice, he began slashing at the barrier and blazing speeds. Nothing will stop it from getting to Yan.

A abnormally large, white polar bear stampeded through Penguin Park, crushing everything in its path. Behind her was a path of solid ice, freezing everything that was touched. She stopped in front of the giant penguin slide, and slammed ground with a mighty pound, sending a shockwave of ice in all directions. The earth shook with a slight hum, ice stalagmites smashing away the slide and swing set. "I hate parks," she muttered under her breath.

"Do you normally bust things like that when you visit? Or do you just naturally dislike penguins?" The polar bear turned to face Sakura, hovering in the air, her wings blazing in flames from the combination of Fly and Firey. She wore Tomoyo's newest design, a light pink tank top with a matching skirt. Combined with the flaming wings, she appeared as a flaming angel descending from the heavens. "I think it's time to heat things up, Mercury."

Mercury growled as she was surrounded by a dark blue aura, slowly shifting to a human form. A young woman replaced the polar bear, with pale blue skin and dark blue eyes, and short white hair. She wore a tight grey bodice and and dark brown pants, with two bluegloves over her hands. "Well well well, if it isn't the Star Princess. Why don't you go run off before you catch a cold, _monster?_"

"Only one person calls me that," Sakura said. "And I always have dreamed about stomping on him. Guess I will have to settle with crushing you."

"This is rather unfortunate then. I hope we would have been able to settle this peacefully. Just allow us to kill the so called Demon Master and we will be on our way." Mercury said, "No more blood shed in your town-"

"Firey! Windy! Attack!" A flaming tornado blasted towards Mercury, but she quickly evaded and threw a barrage of icicles back. Sakura blocked with her flaming wings, and threw out another card. "ARROW!" Blazing arrows appeared from the sky, raining down in a storm of flaming rain. Mercury leaped out of the way, and slammed both of her fists onto the ground. Pillars of ice surrounded her, deflecting the flaming barrage.

"Bring it on, princess!" Mercury howled as she summoned dozens of ice sculptures around her, taking form of various animals. With a flick of her wrist, the frozen beasts dash forward and attacked. Sakura swiftly drew out Sword, and sliced the leading two beasts down. As the two beasts collapsed, a wave of energy emitted from their bodies. Sakura quickly leaped back and summoned Shield as the corpses exploded, sending shards of ice directly at her. As the icicles shattered at the impact of of Shield, Mercury leaped towards Sakura, throwing a dragon kick and blasting Shield away in a single, freezing blow.

"Thunder!" Sakura swung her blade, unleashing a burst of lightning upon Mercury, blasting the demon back across the park. The ice demon flipped back to her feet, and examined the damage of the blast.

"Not bad princess. Looks like this one has some claws." Mercury said, "Well then, no need to hold back then!" Mercury charged straight forward, channeling two large blue balls of energy around both of her hands.

_"You sure about this Lily? This is not going to be a happy family reunion." Yan asked as he stared at the front gates of Lin clan headquarters. It was a classical Chinese house, walls surrounding a large courtyard. Heavy magic guarded all sides, there was only one viable entrance: through the front door._

_ "Shut up. I can handle this." Lily retorted as she readied her bow._

_ "There won't be any have been conspiring with Raganarok. They mean business."_

_"This is MY family. I must talk to them."_

_ "You realize it will not much of talking, but rather beating the information we need out of them right?... Hey, wait up!" Lily was already marching forward, and fired an arrow._

_ "Explode!" A loud bang erupted from the middle of the courtyard. The courtyard began to populate itself with Lin clan members, all prepared for an attack. A loud siren echoed from the center of the structure._

_ "Well, guess like we are not going in quietly..." Yan muttered as he twirled both of his swords._

"DIAN LONG ZHAO LAI!" Syaoran swung his sword with massive force, blasting bolts of lightning all around him. A large metallic scorpion and a massive brown moth evaded quickly, Razor quickly retaliating by diving underground. Syaoran quickly summoned Slyph and leaped into the air as the scorpion bursted out of the ground. The Chinese warrior landed on a nearby car, crushing the car at landing. The screeches of the car alarm was quickly drowned out by Timber's screech as the giant moth dived down upon Syaoran.

"Salamandra! Help me out here!" Syaoran roared as the flaming dragon appeared beside him. "Get him!" The fire dragon dived straight at Timber and collided head on, surrounding the moth with crimson flames. Timber screeched as it battled with Salamandra, attempted to blast the dragon away with its mighty wings. Syaoran let a sigh of relief as one demon was temporarily suppressed, but he had no time to rest. Razor dived underground once again, but thanks to Blade's powers, Syaoran was able to detect Razor's movements. Syaoran flipped off the car as Razor emerged from the ground, slashing his tail right at the very spot Li was at mere seconds ago.

"Too slow!" Syaoran taunted as he channeled another spell with his left hand, "Dian long, zhao lai!" A beam of electricity exploded from his palm at the scorpion, but the attack was blocked as a flurry of roots erupted from the ground. Seconds after the collision, the roots exploded in red flames.

Timber was slowly flying to the ground, its wings slowly blowing the flames away. Salamandra was knocked away by the demon's immense strength, but the dragon showed Syaoran that it was itching to get back into the fight as Salamandra reappeared by the Dragon Master's side.

_"Lily? Lily! Where the hell did you go?" Yan yelled as he scanned the courtyard. Hundreds of defeated Lin clan members were scattered around him. He took a step forward, but was instantly forced to retreat back as a burst of energy exploded millimeters in front of him. That magic... it felt familiar It was significantly more powerful than before, but..._

"_I recognize that magic..." Yan muttered as he turned to face the next contestant. "Lily."_

The shadow stopped his barrage of attacks. Something powerful has awakened on the other side of that door. It hesitated for a second, but shrugged it off and prepared one final strike at the barrier. The moment his blade made contact, the house exploded in a swirl of black fire, lightning and water.

"That's all of them! Reseal the barrier!" Meilin shouted, "How's everyone doing?"

"So far so good, minimal demon attacks here. I am pretty surprised though, those demons were killing anything at sight earlier, but they pretty much left us alone here. It's a bit strange." Touya wondered out loud as he counted the number of new survivors that Meilin and Yue brought back.

"So it's not just me then. Something is not right, I thi-" A deafening explosion roared in the skies, the entire school shook in its wrath.

A large crater remains where the house that Syaoran and his friends shared. The dark air was obscured further by the floating ashes. A wardrobe is barely standing, but slowly burning down into nothing. A small hole on its side showed it was filled with various bright and fantastic costumes. A small distance away from that was a pile of electronics, various laptops and gaming consoles, but there was no sign of the television that was linked to the machines. The explosion has scattered and misplaced certain items. A paper compass, a puzzle box, two bicycles, a large box of sweets, nothing escaped the wrath of the explosion. In the very center of it all, covered in the dark guts of the various objects, was two teddy bears, linked hand to hand, slowly burning away into nothing. The shadowy figure is nowhere to be seen, the only thing that was standing up tall was Yan, eyes shut and surrounded by a terrifying dark aura. He slowly opened his eyes, revealing blood red pupils. He glanced around his surroundings, then examined his body with a smile on his face. _I'm back._

"Quetzacoatl, Mercury, Razor and Timber... It's time you return to me... your true master."

"It's time you return to me... your true master." A voice that resembled Yan's rumbled throughout the city. Syaoran watched as his two demon opponents faded into the darkness. He let out a sigh of relief, it's all over... But... why isn't he relaxing?

"_It isn't over yet,"_ Tian's voice echoed in Syaoran's head, "_Something is not right."_

"We need to go find Yan... we need to see what's going on." Syaoran stared at the sky, watching Sakura and Eriol flying back to the house. He summoned Slyph and took flight as well.

"Yan! What's going on?" Sakura ran towards Yan as she landed, "How are your wounds? What happened to Lily? How did you-" She stopped herself about ten meters away from him.

"Sakura! Are you OK?" Eriol asked worriedly as he caught up with Sakura.

"The Cards... they are stopping me from going any further... I don't know why." Sakura said. Syaorann clenched his sword tightly, something was indeed wrong. "Yan. Where is Lily?"

"She's dead." Yan said quietly, "She's gone."

"Wha... What? But... who killed her?" Syaoran asked.

"I did." A strange smile appeared on the Demon Master's face, his eyes completely dark red.

"You... are.. not Yan!" Syaoran pointed his sword at Yan, "WHO ARE YOU?"

Yan snapped a finger, and the earth began to shake. A beam of darkness not too far away erupted from the earth into the sky. In the horizons, hundreds of other beams appeared.

_"SYAORAN! That power... is the power of death... It hit-" _Tian didn't have to say anymore, Syaoran knew exactly where that attack hit. Sakura screamed in agony as she realized it milliseconds later, tears filled her eyes. Eriol bowed his head down, his eyes for once expressed true anger. Their high school, the shelter for the bystanders along with the friends that were dispatched as guards... all gone.

"WHY? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO KILL SO MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE?" Sakura screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU?"

"The name is Fong Wei Reed... and you have something that belongs to me little girl."


End file.
